Letty's Story
by my shangri-la
Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.
1. Chapter 1

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

_**Chapter 1**_

It was hot as _balls_ in Columbia. The digital read-out on her waterproof watch said 11:30 am, and the Latina was already soaked with sweat. She swiped her wrist across her perspiring forehead, avoiding the grease on her hand, and internally cursing herself for even getting out of bed so early. And not too many years back, she had thought L.A. was hot being stuck in a garage all day. Yeah, right. Days like these, she wished she had Dominic leaning over her bedside, tempting her from the cocoon of blankets for a cup of coffee. Letty missed him.

"Yo, chica! You missed a spot."

Ray Ramirez – her current, resident pain in the ass. He was a giant bear of a man. Skin a shade darker than Dom's had ever been, due to days working outside in the unrelenting sun. And he had his long hair pulled into a ponytail at the back of his neck. If he walked too close to her when he got her _really_ riled up, Letty would reach out and tug on it. He lived in a little, light blue house across the street from her own yellow rental – and he was also the man she was temporarily working for. Today was her day off.

"What the hell are you rumbling about?" Letty scowled. The smirk on his face indicated a playfulness that she had definitely not been in the mood for lately.

"Under all the grease", he teased, walking towards her carport. "You've got a nearly clean spot of skin."

She rolled her eyes and ducked back under the hood of a little black pick-up truck. "Yeah, well, you know me, Ray. I never half-ass anything."

"No, you definitely don't. What bug bit your ass this morning?" he inquired cautiously. He was at least ten years her senior, and after six months, he knew the young woman currently dodging his penetrating glare, was a very private person. The woman had engaged in no sort of relationship with anyone – romantic or otherwise. The few she _had_ made friends with had been out of necessity. She did not share easily. And he sometimes wondered what circumstances in life had chosen such a closed off route for her.

Out of his sight, Letty flinched. _Urgency_. That was the bug. The bug also went by the name Dominic Anthony Toretto. She forced some lightness into her voice as she tugged the rotted fan belt loose with a grimace. "No bug – except the spider that lives under my bathroom cabinet", she murmured. "But we've made friends. I'm just having issues under the hood of this truck. In all the years- I've never seen so much wrong with a car that was completely intact."

"You were almost done last week. What happened?" Ray ignored her little slip up, knowing that if he pursued the subject she would close up like a clam.

"Engine, carburetor, spark plugs, you name it. Now this damned fan belt- and something is leaking. I think it's the coolant. And when I was bouncing down the street in this metal contraption yesterday – the shocks need replaced – but the suspension needs fixed. It's shot to fuck. The only things working in this truck, besides the radio, are the brakes. I feel like bashing a wrench into something", she growled, looking disdainfully at the truck.

"As long as it's not my head", he muttered. Letty's eyebrows furrowed oddly, before shaking off the bit of emotion behind her eyes. "Well, that's what you get for a free truck on the side of the road", Ray said after a minute. "At least there wasn't a squirrels' nest in the undercarriage."

"Did you want something, Ray? Or did you just want to come point out that I need a shower?" she muttered. Her hair was falling out of its already messy bun. She wondered briefly what Dom would think of her hair since she chopped off half of its length. And her bangs had grown out far enough to tuck behind her ears or be pulled off her face with an elastic band. That was, of course, if she ever finally got a solid lead on her man.

_That_ was her bug this morning. Nearly a year ago, she had seen the news feed about what had happened in Rio de Janeiro. _Stupid idiot_, she thought wryly – acting like some sort of Robin Hood with wheels. But that was her Dom. And she figured that their entanglement with Reyes hadn't been their fault at the get go. As things stood now, though, Letty figured that when she _did_ catch up to his ass, she would more likely than not, chew him out and then give him a black eye before dragging him off to bed.

"You want some help with this, Letty?" Ray asked finally.

She sighed. There was no way she could get this done in time to leave by the end of next week on her own. She had already compromised her timeline once, and she wasn't willing to do it again. And she needed to talk to Ray about her finally taking off. The man wasn't stupid. He knew she was hiding out, laying low. Letty nodded. "Sure. I'd appreciate it."

0

Dominic stood on his wrap-around porch, watching his sister play in the sand with her almost five-month old daughter. His mouth tilted in a half smile as he remembered just a few weeks before Mia went into labor. She and Brian had been discussing baby names for nearly a month before it had been made official.

"_Come __**on**__, Brian", Mia laughed. "We found out the sex of the baby months ago. The least we could do is name her."_

"_Mia, how the hell do you expect me to name something I haven't seen yet?" he rolled his eye. "Talk about closing the barn door after the horse ran out…"_

"_Brain O'Conner, our daughter is not a horse!" she insisted, wryly amused._

_He groaned. "That's not what I said- I was using an analogy to make a point."_

_Dominic could hear them in the kitchen from where he was watching the thunder clouds roll in on the back porch. It looked like it was going to be bad. He shot a quick text to Elena suggesting she should stay home that night and once she confirmed, he headed inside, a huge clap of thunder following the slam of the screen door, startling everyone._

"_Gonne be pretty bad tonight", Brian muttered at him, looking scrutinizingly out the large window. "We may have to camp out in the basement."_

"_As long as the power doesn't go out", Mia frowned. "All the food in the fridge will be spoiled."_

"_One rarely happens without the other, Mi", Dom reminded, taking a seat at the table with them._

"_Where's Elena?" she asked curiously._

"_Told her a storm front was coming in and to stay put. Her neighbor's got a basement; she'll probably go over there. I didn't want her driving in it", Dom said quietly._

_Mia sent Brian to get the battery operated weather radio from the living area when the wind started to kick up a few minutes later. Dominic studied his sister's profile. It had been a long time since he had seen her happy like this. It had come in spurts over the years, but it was short lived and usually coming right before a major tragedy that blacked out the snippets of good. She had several frown lines from worry and she was barely twenty-six, but they had been turning into laugh lines over the last year as stress, heartache, and worry for her family's freedom became happiness, a sense of peace, and a new chance at making a home._

_In this paradise of an island, Mia was his sunshine. Seeing her happy, almost made up for the loss of Letty in a way that Elena's friendship could not. He was glad she had put her foot down and demanded they not be separated. He almost laughed aloud. Had she not been pregnant, he might have sneaked off somewhere – and he would have regretted it._

_But she had been nauseous, cranky, tired, and fit to __**literally**__ stamp her foot at him like she used to when she was a child. When she was eight, he had been thirteen – nearly fourteen – and she had been a little tart even then. It had been three years since their mother passed, and she was __**sure**__ she was lady of the house. She had become Suzy Homemaker as soon as she could see over the stove at eleven, but until then she chased after him to clean his room and wash up before supper – and their dad had just watched and laughed. It seemed Dominic's little sister could get him to do just about anything she wanted._

_Dominic had always respected the hell out of his dad. Tony was a family man through and through. He provided for them as well as offering emotional support when needed – including but not limited to, braiding Mia's hair, giving Dom girl advice, and helping them with school projects. But Mia was his baby sister. And she had had him wrapped around her pinkie finger since the day she was born._

_The lights flickered as Brian set the radio on the table, already turned on, and the man the droning about high velocity winds and hurricane warnings, or at the very least power outages. Case in point: their house – as the lights flicked off completely. Dom and Brian got up and grabbed some flashlights, making sure all the windows and doors throughout the house were locked, as Mia grabbed her own flashlight and the extra, along with a few new packs of batteries, and went to wait by the basement door. "Damn tropical storms", she swore under her breath._

"_Aw, you know you love it", Dom chuckled coming up behind her waving the flashlight in her face._

_She batted at him, scowling irritatedly. "You can tell me how much I love it if I don't go into labor", she snapped._

_He blinked. "Christ, Mia, that's not even funny."_

"_No shit, Dom", she huffed._

_Dom shrugged. "Well, Brian was a cop- they're supposed to have emergency training, aren't they?"_

"_That does not make me feel better", she said seriously._

"_What's going on?" Brian asked absently, checking the level of kerosene in one of the lanterns._

"_You know how to deliver a baby, don't you, O'Conner?" Dom asked seriously._

"_I know how to deliver a- what now?" he nearly dropped everything in his hands. "Mia! Are you going into labor?" he shouted incredulously._

_Mia started to giggle which turned to whole-hearted laughter at the shit-eating grin on her brother's face. "Thanks for that, Dom", she gasped, holding her stomach. "I feel better now." Then her eyes widened. "Shit- I have to pee."_

"_Mia-"_

"_No, Dominic, I can__**not**__ wait until we get downstairs", she shouted as she skittered around the corner. He and Brian both heard the door slam shut._

_Dom smirked at his future brother-in-law. "I thought you told me you absolutely 'weren't gonna panic'", he teased._

_Brian grinned sheepishly. "It's a nice theory", he admitted. "But __**now**__ would be the ultimate bad time for that. And you know as well as I do what our track record of luck is."_

"_My water just broke." Mia watched them both whip around quick enough to break their necks and give her own sympathy pangs. They were staring at her with identical gaping fish mouths. She snorted out a laugh. "Just teasing", she said finally._

_Dom glowered at her. "When you pop that kid out, I'm gonna get you back for that. You damn near shaved five years off my life."_

_She just smiled. "Sure you will, Dom. Sure you will. So… who's giving me a piggyback ride downstairs?"_

_Dom had carried her into the basement, all the while muttering in playful annoyance what a pain in the ass little sister's are when they're as big as a manatee, making her giggle. She waited until he had settled her on the couch to pinch his stomach. "That's for calling me a sea cow", she said seriously, arching an eyebrow._

_He chuckled, ruffling her hair. Dominic had thoroughly enjoyed Mia's pregnancy – she had been mostly normal despite the fluctuations in hormone levels. She cried over the littlest thing, like a commercial on TV. Nearly every song on the radio made her cry, but she took the light teasing in stride, and could dish it up just as well. And the last thing Mia had shouted about unnecessarily was a dish towel that was looking at her funny. Dom had gone outside for that one so she wouldn't catch him laughing. But she came back to her sanity just as quickly, and had shoved half of the towel into the garbage disposal to be ripped to shreds. While Brian had taken Mia into the living room to calm down, Dom had drawn a face on it with a Sharpie._

"_You're gorgeous, Mia", he shook his head, "Look just like Mom."_

_Mia sighed wistfully. "I wish I remembered her more."_

"_You were barely seven… she'd be proud of you, Mia – Dad too. He'd probably tan __**my**__ ass", he chuckled grimly, "But you've done a lot for this family."_

_Mia internally groaned and tugged her brother onto the couch next to her. "Don't you dare start that shit again, Dom, or I swear I'll smack you upside the head. Sometimes people are just shit outta luck and you just have to suck it up and move on. No one can change the past – not even you – and you have to stop living in it."_

"_Mia-"_

_She held up a hand, "Sisterly advice. Let me have my say and then I'll shut up about it. You have the right to be happy, Dominic, whatever that entails. But that will never happen until you grieve over what happened to Letty." She shot him a look when he opened his mouth. "No, tearing a city down the middle is not grieving."_

_He sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. "When the hell did you get so mouthy?" he complained under his breath._

"_Your niece wants you to stop brooding", she smiled mischievously._

_He chuckled. "You're gonna milk that one for a long time, aren't you?"_

"_Bet your ass I am."_

_He shook his head exasperatedly and settled his hand on her stomach. "Sorry, baby", Dom murmured. "Dammit, Mia, would you name this poor girl already?" he grinned._

_Her head tilted thoughtfully as she chewed on her bottom lip. "Marisa", she said decisively after a minute. "After Mom- sort of", she explained._

_He rolled it over briefly in his mind and nodded. "As long as she's not a mermaid", he teased._

"_Oh, ha-ha", she rolled her eyes. "You and your Spanish…"_

_Brian finally carried the rest of the supplies down to the basement in case an extended stay was necessary and found Mia settled against her brother's side on the couch. His mouth quirked in a half smile as he set the large plastic container on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Dom – under normal circumstances – probably would have helped him. But as Mia's pregnancy continued, he had been spending more time with her than Brian was._

_Brian doubted it was a conscious decision. The Torettos had lost more than most in the way of family, and Brian doubted his future brother-in-law would appreciate the observation that he was hogging his sister from her fiancé. Mia was happy and relaxed, and for the most part not worried about her brother. So Brian could relax as well. He stretched out on the couch that was catty-corner to theirs._

"_Hey, Brian, we named your kid", Dominic said after a minute._

_That caught his interest. "You mean Mia actually picked something?"_

_She waved her hand at him. "Oh, you just shush", she scolded._

_Brian grinned. "You gonna fill me in?"_

"_Our mother's name was Marisol… I picked Marisa", she said softly._

_He nodded. "I like it. You know she still needs a middle name now."_

_Mia groaned and threw a small pillow at his head._

0

Dominic heard a car door slam and a few minutes later Brian was joining him on the porch, a few grocery bags in hand and he went to take the bags of food away. Now, it needed to be said that Brian couldn't cook for shit – hell, he could barely boil water without some weird catastrophe happening – so Dom or Mia took usually cooked dinner. Otherwise they got up take-out, or Elena took over their kitchen. That always amused Dom to no end. She was a very controlled person, especially when it came to her job, but in their kitchen… she was a mini tornado, and crumbs trailed across the counters and flour streaked her face. But the end result was always delicious, and they couldn't tease her too much about her cooking habits. And Mia rather enjoyed having another domestic woman in the house.

0

Letty was so sick of him leaving her. He had done it enough times over the years. She understood Dom better than even he understood himself, but the Dominican Republic had been the last straw. Letty may have understood why he had left in the middle of the night instead of giving her a proper goodbye in favor of leaving her a wad of cash- she rolled her eyes. "Idiot", she muttered angrily. He would never have been able to leave if he had to face her. She knew this, but that fact didn't absolve him of his transgressions – or his stupidity. And when she _found_ his stupid, annoying, well-muscled ass, she was going to shove her foot up the crack.

She had been feeding the ire she felt towards him for months, knowing that if she didn't, she would just collapse into his arms again. But there was too much at stake this time, and he needed to see her unchecked fury – he would never understand otherwise. A swift kick in the ass was the doctor's order, and she intended to deliver. She wasn't a woman who needed much in the way of protection, and her needs were relatively simple. Both had been ripped from her when he left. She needed him – and anything else was just cannon fodder. Because after all that, if he still didn't get it… She didn't know if she could stay with him waiting for the other shoe to drop. She was not a freaking martyr.

And the fact that he thought she was dead – clearly obvious in his reckless actions – made him an idiot. If he thought for one second that if she were really dead, she wouldn't find a way to haunt his ass… she abandoned that train of thought and tried to fall asleep for a few hours before she had to catch her plane.

00

**A/N: **Chapter number one is finished. As always, reviews make me happy. **Side-note:** I haven't forgotten about my other story, and I'm still working on it, but sending my flash drive to a recovery center is three hundred dollars and I'm grinding my teeth over the idea of paying that much. As soon as I do, and get it back, hopefully my files will be intact, and I can post on a regular basis. Just because I haven't updated doesn't mean there's been no writing going on. But those of you who were begging for a Dom and Letty chapter in that story will be happy with this one. Thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

_**Chapter 2**_

_**One month from the end of the last chapter:**_

"You'd better have a really damn good explanation for this one, _papi._"

Dominic stopped at the impossibly familiar, husky, female voice, and whirled. He saw nothing. But he _knew_ he wasn't crazy. His stance tensed, arms crossing deliberately as he waited. Finally, the toned, tan, female body stepped out from behind the trees. The knot in his gut tightened painfully. There was no _fucking way_… But that tingly feeling he'd been having the last few days, alerting him that someone was watching him said otherwise.

"Cat got your tongue?" she teased dryly. She had come fully out of the bushes, hands in the back pockets of her white Capri pants, but didn't approach him.

"_Letty_", he growled, staring at her incredulously, taking in her outfit and shortened hair. He eyed her top dubiously. The dark blue baby doll halter top _clearly_ wasn't for functional use – and neither were her Velcro'd up sandals for that matter. She had been on the island a while. "I _swear_, if all this has been some kind of a joke-"

"Oh, just watch your temper for a few minutes and let me explain", she warned.

"Watch my _temper_-?" he cut himself off abruptly. "I thought you were _dead_, Letty! So don't you dare _tell _me to 'watch my temper'."

"I'm sorry about that", she said quietly. "But it was safer after everything happened for me to stay under the radar."

"Sure, sweetheart", he said sarcastically, "Let's talk about that for a minute. What the hell possessed you, after all the shit that we probably had on our records, to go to the goddamned FBI? I coulda swore that after all these years you had more sense than that!"

"You fuckin' _left_ me, you arrogant shit!" she shouted. "What the fuck was I supposed to do?"

"You were _supposed_ to go back to L.A. and take care of Mia, _goddammit!_ Not throw yourself back into the line of fire! _Jesus_", he snarled. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"_Me?_ Are you _serious?_ _I_ was thinking that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life wondering if you were dead or alive – or god forbid prison! You left and I had to watch my own ass, so you'd better just stop fucking _shouting at me!_ I didn't take this shit before, and you better bet your ass I won't now." Letty scowled up at him, arms crossed over her chest in annoyance.

"You done?" he snapped.

She turned and started stalking away. "You bet your ass I'm done", she bit out over her shoulder.

"Letty!" he shouted. "Where the hell are you going?"

"Somewhere you're not", she snarled over her shoulder.

Dominic started walking after her. "You think I'm going to let you just disappear again after all this?" he asked incredulously.

She stopped, but didn't turn around. "You've got a pretty girl, Dom… take care of her." Then she shrugged. "I'll be around for a few days. Send out the bloodhounds if you want. If not, my flight out is Monday." Then she was gone.

Dominic watched her walk off, debating the wisdom of letting her disappear again, but in the end, he decided he needed to include Mia and Brian in this situation. It would affect them all. He turned around and headed back up the beach towards home.

0

Mia had graciously waited until halfway through the meal before her patience snapped. Her fork clanked against the plate. "Alright, Dom- spit it out", she demanded, giving him a raised eyebrow that said she meant business.

He ignored her pointed glare for the moment in favor of taking another bite of lasagna, quite literally chewing over his thoughts. And finally he spoke. "Finish eating and put Marisa to bed, Mia. We all need to talk."

"Dom?" she questioned worriedly. "What's going on?"

He shook his head and traded a look with Brian. "We're still safe… this is a family issue. But it can wait until after dinner." He smiled a bit. It was more of a grimace, but nobody pointed that out. His Letty was alive – and apparently was lookin' to play some hardball. He was still more than a little shocked, but his girl had always beaten the odds, so it wasn't completely unbelievable. There was no question in his mind as to whether or not he was going to track her down – of course he was. He wanted answers that could only come from her, and anything that happened after that would be a toss-up. He wasn't sure he could handle her disappearing again for an unnamed length of time, but so much had happened; he wasn't sure he could expect them to walk back into each others' lives and be what they were before. Whatever happened, though, she was still family, and he knew he needed to tell her that.

Thinking about it, he felt a bit like an idiot. He didn't know if she had a place to stay or not – no doubt she could find one, but he wasn't sure how to break it to his sister that not only was Letty alive, but he had no idea where she was – again. He nearly snorted as he cleaned up the kitchen. Mia was going to pitch a fit.

"Dominic?"

He turned, his sister leaning against the doorframe. "Everything alright?" he asked after a minute.

Her mouth tightened. "You tell me."

"Marisa asleep?" he clarified. Sometimes it still shocked him that his baby sister could be such a hard ass. She nodded. "Let's go in the living room, then."

He grabbed another beer bottle from the fridge and followed his sister around the corner. She settled on the beige couch next to Brian and Dominic settled in the chaise lounge out of habit. He stretched his legs out over the giant footstool before irritatedly pushing it away and dropping his feet to the ground. "Aw, fucking hell", he muttered to himself before looking up. "Alright, listen- I got completely _gob smacked_ today, and there's really no way to cushion this-"

"How 'bout you give us a hint, man", Brian prodded carefully. Mia was tense against his side, and Dom- well, he looked shell-shocked.

"It's about Letty", Dominic rumbled finally.

Brian blinked. _Oh fuck-_ "Dom, what about Letty?"

"She's alive", Dom answered hoarsely.

"Dominic… that's not possible", Mia murmured in disbelief.

"You sure?" Brian asked seriously.

Dom nodded. "Positive."

"Do you know where she is?" Brian questioned quietly, eyebrows raised.

"Yup", Dom snorted. He shook his head. "She's here, on the island."

"_Fuck-_"

"Dom, how can you be so sure- even if you think you saw her… you can't know for sure", Mia sighed.

He glanced up at his sister, almost smirking, "Oh, no? Mia, I talked to her. So, yeah, I'm sure."

"You _talked_- Jesus, Dom, why didn't you start with that?" Mia hissed exasperatedly. "And where the hell _is_ she if you talked to her?"

"Okay, so I yelled at her", Dom rolled his eyes. "She's been following me, watching us, I think – for about a week now. I _knew_ shit was gonna happen… I just never thought it would turn out to be her, but I had a funny feeling..."

"You don't know where she is and you pissed her off- Dom!" she groaned. "You are not sixteen anymore. Yelling at her is not going to make her try harder."

"_Mia_", he sighed, "I know. Cut me some slack here. She caught me off guard. She said she's got a flight out of here on Monday though. We've got to find her before then."

"What do you think the chances are of her making that easy on us?" Brian muttered wryly.

Dom chuckled. "I think she's somewhere pretty close by- like I said, she's been following me. But her exact words on the matter were 'send out the bloodhounds if you want', so she probably won't be helpful on purpose."

"Great, just fucking great", Mia whined. "Do you remember how hard it was to find her when she ran off when we were kids? Finding Letty in one in a hundred haystacks, awesome", she grumbled.

"She wants to make sure it means something when we find her", Dominic said seriously. "If we're lookin' we'll find her. It won't be impossible, but we're gonna have to be practical about it because of the time limit. Brian, we're gonna have to split up. Mia-" he sighed exasperatedly at the glare she was giving him. "Don't look at me like that. You've got a kid to look after; you're staying here."

"Alright", Brian started, leaning forward. "Let's check on the closest motels around here and work our way out in a circle… we need a map."

00

They planned out their hunting expedition for the next day, and finally headed to bed. But Dom was wide awake, caught up in past memories…

_When he and Vince were sixteen, and Mia had been just barely ten, Letty was twelve, and had lived across the street, just a few houses down since she was eight and quickly made herself a permanent fixture in their lives._

_Letty's parents had moved to the United States from Puerto Rico; they had spent two years in Arizona before settling in L.A. They had a semi-normal family, and usually, up until about a year ago, everything had been fine. But Mr. Ortiz had taken a pay-cut at work, and then four months ago, had finally been laid off indefinitely. That's when everything started going downhill. Letty's mother's job at the clothing shop in town barely covered half of their bills. There was talk about moving back to Puerto Rico- at least they had family there. But in the end, it wasn't necessary._

_A few weeks before school started up again after summer break, the whole street must have heard the shouting. Mrs. Ortiz had got a second job a few months ago, working the night shift at a twenty-four hour diner, which took care of their bills enough to keep them out of trouble. But apparently Mr. Ortiz had been getting more than just booze from the local bar, and when he stumbled home drunk in the middle of Sunday afternoon, his wife had had enough. Several hours later, when the dust settled, and Mrs. Ortiz said goodbye to her future ex-husband, Letty was gone._

_Letty's mother, Lorena, had called the Toretto house asking if they had seen Letty, but she wasn't there. And that was how Dominic ended up driving every direction in walking distance for an upset twelve year old girl. He finally found her on a hunch, on the opposite side of the park, far from the parking lot, in a large oak tree several yards from a small duck pond._

_Hands on his hips, he stood under the tree, trying not to scowl at her. It had been two and a half hours. "Letty, get your ass down here so I can take you home", he sighed._

_She refused to look down at him. "I'm not going home, Dom, and you can't make me."_

"_If I have to climb this tree-" he left the threat open-ended, hoping her imagination would fill in the blanks. When she didn't respond – he really should have known better, she was nothing like Mia – he changed tactics. "Come on, kid. You're mom's worried about you."_

"_I'll fuckin' bet she is", Letty growled sarcastically. "And I am not a kid."_

_He chuckled. "Yeah, you are, so watch your mouth."_

"_Whatever. Fuck, fuck, fuck", she muttered pointedly. "You're a cheese ball. Go home, Dominic. I think I'll just sleep up here tonight."_

"_How did such a sweet girl end up with such a potty mouth?" he teased._

"_I hung around you and Vince too much", she shrugged, "Duh."_

"_C'mon, Let, you can't sleep in a tree- you can barely stand the floor. Like the freakin' Princess and the Pea", he said wryly._

"_Did you just call me a damn princess, Toretto?" she snarled, glowering down at him._

"_Nah, princess, I wouldn't dare", he grinned._

_She groaned. "Dom, I __**swear**__, if you don't knock it off with the pet names, I'll-"_

"_You'll what?" he prompted, obviously amused. "What're you gonna do to me from up there? Throw leaves at me? Ouch, yeah, you know, that'll probably hurt my feelings-" She shuffled briefly and then chucked her tennis shoe at him. It just missed his head. "Fucking hell, Letty", he growled. And then… "You didn't think that one out, did ya? How you plannin' to get that back exactly?"_

_She cursed under her breath. "I don't suppose you'd toss it back up to me?" she muttered sheepishly._

_He stifled a smile, knowing he had his bargaining chip, "Nope. But I'll give it back to you once we're in the car."_

"_You'd make me walk across the park with one shoe?" Letty grumbled incredulously. "Sounds like you don't trust me."_

"_About as far as I'd throw you", he said easily. "Let… come on. I'll give you a piggyback ride to the car."_

_She was silent for a while, and when she spoke, her voice was quiet. "I don't want to go home."_

_He sighed, not able to fault her for the feeling. When their mother died, none of them had been happy stepping foot in that house for quite a while. "You wanna come stay at our house tonight?" he asked finally, snagging her abandoned shoe from the grass. "You were going to tomorrow night since your mom's gotta work anyway. But we'll have to swing by and get your stuff and check in."_

"_Fine", she muttered unhappily. "But I'm not going inside that house."_

_Dom arched an eyebrow and caught her gaze. "Letty, do you __**want**__ me going through your underwear drawer?"_

_She scowled. "You are like twenty different levels of evil, you know that? Alright, fine, I'll come down."_

"_Need help?"_

_She shook her head. "No, I got it." He watched carefully, moving a little closer, preparing to catch her if she lost her grip, but she didn't._

_When she lowered herself to the ground, holding her socked foot off the ground, Dominic looped an arm around her neck, messing up her already tangled hair. "Did you really call me a cheese ball?" he laughed._

"_Can I have my shoe back?" she complained, trying to dodge his hand._

"_Not 'til I've got you locked in my car. I've been lookin' for you for hours, kid", he shook his head._

"_I am not a kid", she insisted._

"_Whatever", he teased dryly. "Hop on, little monkey."_

_If she were Mia, she'd have shrieked indignantly, steam coming out of her ears. But Letty just gave him a death glare before he turned around, and he felt her small hands grip his shoulders as she jumped onto his back. His arms shifted under her knees, holding her in place, and he was thankful she wasn't trying to choke him. He carried her back across the park and set her in the passenger seat of his car. He held her shoe hostage until he was in the driver's seat and pulling back onto the road._

_Halfway towards home, Dominic pulled off to the side of the road. Letty had been completely and utterly silent since before they got into the car. And a quiet, brooding Letty equaled trouble. Finally, she took her gaze from staring out the window and looked at him. "Why'd we stop?"_

_He shrugged. "Wanna get some ice cream?"_

"_I don't need you to baby me", she muttered._

"_I said ice cream, not a lollipop", he said easily. "I don't like seeing you sad."_

"_My father's gone, Dom. He ran off to be with some whore that makes him 'feel like a man'… whatever the fuck that means. Do you really think ice cream is going to make me any happier?" she snapped._

"_Nope, but you might get a brain freeze. That's as destructive as I'm gonna let you get over this", he murmured, pulling back onto the street, "Vanilla-chocolate twist on a cone?"_

_She sighed, "Yeah. Sorry- I'm not mad at you, ya know?"_

_He gave her a half smile. "I know."_

_It took another half hour before he pulled into Letty's driveway, and he was still trying not to laugh at her. She was one of the messiest eaters he had ever seen – worse than Vince. She had gotten ice cream all over her mouth. She was completely sticky, and there was no way she'd get it all off without soap and water. Finally, when he couldn't stop grinning at her, she had just pressed one of the thin napkins across her mouth and let it stick, covering the mess._

_They didn't knock on her front door, just walked in, and he called for Lorena. The tall, thin woman appeared quickly from the kitchen, and when she saw Letty, looked like she wasn't sure whether to yell or just hug her. But in the end, it was sort of a mixture. She tackled her daughter in a bear hug, muttering, "Where the hell have you been?" and "What's wrong with your face?"_

_Finally they broke apart, and Dom pushed Letty towards the stairs. "I got it", he muttered. "Go wash your face." Letty frowned, but for once didn't argue, just disappearing to her room._

_Lorena was leaning against the kitchen counter wearily. "Thank you, Dominic", she said quietly. "Where was she?"_

"_The park", he offered after a minute, "In a tree."_

"_Her face?" she questioned wryly._

"_Ice cream", he chuckled. "She's not ready to stay here tonight", he said, turning serious. "Mind if we take her tonight?"_

_She sighed, "Can't say I blame her… she can if she wants to. I'll come see her before I go to work tomorrow."_

_He nodded, and then spoke again, raising his voice slightly. "Good. Now she can stop eavesdropping and pack her bag", he smirked. He heard her footsteps as she ran up the stairs._

"_Tattletale", she yelled back._

_Unseen by either of them, Letty's mother blinked. "Oh, my…"_

_Dominic politely waived her off. "She threw her shoe at me earlier and I bribed her out of the tree with it. We're right on track."_

"_If you say so", Lorena murmured dubiously. She looked up at the hiss of pipes, "You hungry? Paella is still hot. I'm sure you missed dinner. I think Letty just got in the shower. I might as well send you both back to your house with full stomachs."_

_He smiled. "I never turn down food."_

_She shook her head in amusement. "No, you definitely don't. Go on, heat up a few plates and I'll see if I can't speed up the slowpoke."_

_He nodded, heading for the cupboard. "No worries though. I've got time."_

"_Call your dad. Let him know you're both here", she said. "He doesn't need to worry while you're over here stuffing your face. And make sure it's alright to bring Letty with you."_

_He nearly snorted. "Dad loves Letty. Are you kidding? I think he has more fun than Mia when she sleeps over."_

_Lorena grinned. "Yes, I suppose Tony would be thrilled having another grease-monkey in the house."_

_Letty had calmed down quite a bit after taking her shower. She tromped down the stairs with her overnight duffle and tossed it next to the door before taking her seat at the table to eat._

00

Letty could have chewed her own foot off for walking away from him, but she had to do it. She had been chasing him for so long… it was his turn. She had to trust that what they had was still strong enough that he would come after her. She had to trust him. When she was younger, that hadn't always been first on her to-do list, but as they got older it became imperative to their life-style. Her faith in him had kept her safe, but in the end, it had only ensured that they were apart. She had to wonder if somewhere along the line maybe he had lost faith in her.

She had broken the mirror in their bedroom the morning she woke up without him in the Dominican. Not many things in her life had hurt her as much as waking up to find him gone, knowing that nothing she had said the night before had done any good. It was just painful goodbyes. How could he honestly expect her to be happy anywhere he wasn't?

Letty knew that if she had any chance of getting him back, she had to let him do the chasing this time. "Five miles away, sucker", she murmured as she locked the door to her motel room and headed to look out the window. "Catch me if you can."

She was mad at him. Leticia Ortiz did _not_ do easy. He left her first. He was going to have to work for it.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

_**Chapter 3 **_

_Letty was fourteen when she got her period. It was one of the few times she cursed the fact that she practically __**lived**__ at the Torettos. Apparently all her muttered curses attracted some attention. There was a knock on the door._

'_**Please be Mia, please be Mia…'**__ she thought._

"_Let? You alright?"_

_She groaned. "Aw, fuck… Dom, go away", she pleaded. She would have preferred her mother yelling at her to watch her mouth rather than Dominic outside the bathroom door… so humiliating._

"_Letty? Are you sick?" he asked against the door._

"_I'm fine", she growled. "Just… go get my mom. Please?"_

_He sighed. He wasn't a complete moron, and could put two and two together. And she was definitely more embarrassed than he was. "I'll get Lorena if you want… but all that stuff's under the bathroom counter, hun", he said quietly. He heard her swear again and a noise that sounded like she smacked herself on the forehead. He tapped on the door, grinning wryly. "Just come down when you're done."_

_He chuckled at her muffled whine of, "I want my mommy", and continued like he hadn't heard her. _

"_Aspirin's in the medicine cabinet", he reminded. "You want me to wait for you?"_

"_No", she muttered, a horrified look briefly crossing her face. "I'll be down in a minute."_

"_Hurry up or Vince might eat your chicken wings", he yelled as he headed downstairs._

_When she finally talked herself into going back outside, she made a beeline for the spot next to her mother, resting her head on her shoulder._

"_Where've you been, Let? Get lost?" Dom's dad teased from the grill._

_Letty grimaced, "Yeah. A woodchuck gave me faulty directions."_

_She let out a quiet sigh of relief. She knew it was irrational, but she couldn't help but have prayed that Dom didn't make some casual announcement. He wouldn't do that, and she knew it, but the thought of speaking about it with anyone besides her mother left her feeling a little queasy. She wasn't one for much girl talk besides a little gossip, and personal stuff was… personal. And she knew that once a girl hit a certain age, longer trips to the bathroom usually caused people to suspect anyway. She was being overly paranoid._

_Even knowing that, Letty didn't relax until half an hour later when they were grabbing a few things from the fridge to bring outside, and Dom ruffled her hair. She had swatted at him the way she usually did, semi-irritatedly, but she had relaxed._

_0_

_Vince had eaten himself into a food stupor as usual. Lorena had left for work, and Friday night or not, Mia was in her room studying and would go to bed by eleven. Dom's dad, Tony, was leaving early in the morning for a day trip to Santa Barbara and was heading to bed even earlier than normal. All these random facts led to one thing: she was stuck with Dom. Well, not stuck exactly, but he was the only one available to stave off boredom._

_Two bags of popcorn got dumped into a huge bowls and they headed upstairs taking a few cans of soda to watch TV in his room. Vince was snoring loudly on the couch in the living room. Letty was curled up with a pillow against his headboard, watching in amusement as he tried to dig through the stack of videos._

"_I think maybe you need to clean your room, Dom", she teased._

"_Yeah, yeah", he grumbled. "Whaddya wanna watch, Let?"_

"_I don't care as long as it's not from your porn collection", she said mildly. Then she waived him off. "Don't give me that look, Dom. I wasn't in here snooping. You told me about it yourself a few months ago when you were drunk."_

_He groaned. "Did I say anything else to get myself in trouble?"_

_She chuckled. "No. I don't think so."_

"_Sorry", he muttered sheepishly._

_Letty laughed under her breath. "Yeah, I was scarred for life."_

"_Brat", he grumbled._

_She just stuck her tongue out. She knew better than to start a pillow fight with Dom – especially when they were supposed to be trying to be quiet. He was eyeing her curiously though, and she rolled her eyes. "What?"_

_His mouth quirked in amusement, "Nothin'. You just look super tiny in that bed."_

_She scowled. "Dominic-"_

_He just chuckled. "Relax, little spit fire." And then he held two cases out. "__Jurassic Park__ or __Goodfellas__?" he asked._

"_Dances with Wolves__", she countered logically._

_Dominic rolled his eyes. "No- I'm not watching that again just 'cause you've got wet panties over Mel Gibson."_

"_I do __**not-**__" she spluttered indignantly. "You made me watch __Pulp Fiction__ with you last time", Letty complained._

"_Pick a movie, Let", he sing-songed, "Or I swear I'm gonna put in-"_

"_**No!**__" she yelped sharply. "You promised no more __Silence of the Lambs__. I couldn't sleep for a week!" He just continued to grin, and she sighed. "Evil bastard", she muttered. "Fine, we can watch __Jurassic Park.__"_

"_Mhm, that wasn't so hard was it?" he teased fiddling with the VCR._

"_Eh, go suck a lemon", she muttered._

_He snorted. "Your insults have gotten shockingly shittier in the last couple years. I thought you were more creative." He stretched out on his side of the bed, nudging her for the popcorn. She shuffled the bowls between them and reached behind her to grab their sodas off the night table._

_They had seen this movie so many times, that it didn't even really merit watching, but it was good background noise and they caught about half of it. By the time it ended and the credits started to roll, it was a little after midnight, and Letty realized with some apprehension that they were both still awake. Something that quite literally never happened. One of them always fell asleep before the end of the movie. Most of the time it was Letty, and she was never sure until she opened her eyes if she would still be in bed with Dom when she woke up, or if he had carried her to the guest bed in Mia's room. But if Dominic managed to fall asleep first, she turned off the television, and gave him a blanket before sneaking into Mia's room herself to sleep._

_But right now they were both awake, and Letty had no idea what she was supposed to do, beyond knowing the fact that she wasn't really supposed to be sleeping in here without Mia. So she did the logical thing and started to get off the bed._

"_I'll help you clean up the mess in the morning", she started. "Night-"_

"_Letty", his hand closed gently around her wrist, "You can- damn girl, you've got some boney ass wrists", he laughed._

_She rolled her eyes and jerked away. "Goodnight, Dominic", she muttered._

"_Oh, calm down", he scolded mildly. "Stay put for a minute. I'll be right back."_

"_What- Dom!" she complained as he grabbed their garbage and shoved it in the now empty bowl._

"_Let- just wait a minute, alright?" he said, stopping at the door. She huffed and nodded, and he headed for the kitchen. Not five minutes later, he came back in the room, two beers in hand and closed the door again._

_She eyed him warily. "Dom-? What's that?"_

_He chuckled. "Beer", he teased slowly, making her scowl._

"_I see that", she growled. "I'm just wondering what you're doing with two?"_

_He held one in her direction. "Go on. You can have one tonight."_

"_What do you mean I can have one tonight? Your dad will tan my ass, Dom", she frowned._

_He just shook his head. "Mia got one about four months ago", he said cryptically._

_She did not like this evasive bullshit. "Are you confusing me on purpose?" she grumbled, taking the bottle reluctantly._

_He laughed quietly. "No."_

_She sighed. "Then why don't you just tell me what this is for?"_

_Dominic smirked. "You know when I got my first beer? The first one I was ever allowed to have on my own?"_

_She shook her head curiously. "No."_

"_When I passed the written test for my learner's permit", he chuckled._

_Letty smirked. "That seems counterproductive."_

_He grinned, "Yeah, a little. Dad thinks that certain mile markers are the privileges of growing up", he explained quietly. "There's always some responsibility to that privilege, and not all of them can be taken away…"_

"_Dom", she muttered, flushing._

"_Letty, relax, okay? You don't want anyone knowing your personal shit, that's fine. You've got the right to your privacy. But it's nothing to be embarrassed about, alright? It's one of your mile markers. Enjoy the fact that you get to celebrate it."_

_She scrunched up her nose playfully. "God, you're not gonna give me the sex talk are you? My ma would love that."_

_He laughed outright. "No, and don't you dare tell Lorena I did. She'd murder me."_

"_Yeah, I can see how that would go… it doesn't look so good in your favor, pal", she chuckled. He tossed a pillow at her, and watched as she let it knock her over, still holding her bottle upright. The girl had skills. He had to grin appreciatively. _

_He stretched out over her playfully, lying across her stomach. She feigned a coughing fit until he moved off of her to sit on his knees, one of her legs trapped underneath him as he leaned over her. "We're friends, right?" he asked quietly._

_She rolled her eyes. "I would hope so, considering I'm lying underneath you", she muttered wryly._

"_You know what I mean", he growled, slightly annoyed. "Look- just… I know I'm probably not awesome with all the girly bullshit, but if you ever need to talk to someone besides your mom or Mia, I want you to come find me. Okay?"_

_She sighed. "Dom… that's really sweet-"_

"_I mean it, Letty. If you ever need me for anything, just ask", he said seriously._

"_Okay", she murmured finally._

"_You can sleep in here", Dominic said after a minute._

"_Maybe I should go stay with Mia-"_

"_Let, it's fine", he muttered. "Stop being difficult. You just need to fuckin' relax."_

"_Fine", she muttered tiredly, taking her last few gulps of beer with a grimace. She discarded the bottle on the night table and shuffled down against the extra pillow, curling on her side away from him. "Why'd you ask me to stay tonight, Dom?" she asked curiously._

_She felt him shrug behind her as he pulled her half of the blanket up."We've been hell'a busy lately. I just kinda missed you, Let. Is that okay?"_

_She mulled it over briefly in her head, knowing there could be worse things. "Yeah", she said quietly. "I kinda missed you too."_

"_So…" he started teasingly, "I know we're friends as long as you let me sit on you?"_

"_What, do you think I just let everybody on me- oh, shut up, Toretto", she huffed rolling away from his amused laughter, "Perv."_

00

They got up early the next morning and started canvassing the city. Seven hours and twelve hotels later, there was still no sign of Letty. Dominic was going to ring her neck when they finally caught her. _What kind of a wife plays a slightly sadistic game of hide-and-seek with her husband?_ Apparently the kind whose husband believed she was dead. He texted Brian and told him they would both check two more places before calling it a day and heading home to Mia. An hour later, Mia picked them up at the designated meeting point with Marisa in tow and drove them all back home.

"You'll find her, Dom", Mia said quietly, eyeing him in the rearview mirror at a stoplight.

He looked up from cooing at his niece in the back of the dark blue SUV. "Mia, I'd follow her around the world, but she'd better hope for her sake that I find her before that's necessary. I hate being on this end of the cat and mouse shit, and she knows it."

Mia arched an eyebrow as she pulled through the intersection. "Are you under the impression she was thrilled with having to track you down all those times?" she asked incredulously. "Letty _loves_ you. And that was the only reason she ever looked for you. She wanted that place in the middle, where she was with you. Not the chasing, and certainly not when you left her. That time, no matter how brief, was worth it. Even if you did completely wreck her heart every time you disappeared. I think this is her way of getting a little payback." Mia shrugged. "And I'm fairly certain she has no intention of leaving any time soon, no matter what she said about a plane ticket."

Dominic rolled his eyes. "And why's that?" he asked tiredly.

Mia smiled. "She hasn't seen me yet."

His mouth twitched. "It's just that simple for you, isn't it?"

She nodded. "Letty was my big sister long before she was anything to you. If she didn't ask about me, she won't leave without checking in."

"I'm gonna have to take your word on that", Dom muttered.

"Girl Scout's honor", she teased.

Brian groaned then. "Mia, you were never a Girl Scout."

"And that makes me no less reliable", she smirked. "At least you know I never overcharged people for boxes of cookies."

Dominic snorted. "No, but I seem to remember a very expensive lemonade stand when you were eight."

"I was enterprising", Mia defended with a laugh.

"A dollar twenty-five for a cup of lemonade?" he chuckled.

Brian grinned out the window. "That's government-sized inflation, Mia", he teased.

"Dad made me change the sign to fifty cents", she shook her head.

"No", Dom corrected. "Dad made _me_ change the sign to fifty cents. He made _you_ stop crying about it."

She stuck her tongue out at him in the mirror and he pulled her ponytail playfully.

0

Letty was utterly and completely bored. But she had promised herself not to leave the room except for food until Monday. Then all bets were off. She made a quick call to Rosa to let her know that she had made brief contact with Dominic. She had spent two weeks in Rio de Janeiro before heading here. She had cried at the conformation of Vince's death. He had been a brother to her for many years, and it hurt. And she could only imagine that it was a miniscule part of the blame that Dominic carried on his shoulders now. Not only Jesse's death now, but Vince's as well – his best friend and partner in crime since they were eight.

Letty had wanted so badly to just curl up in his lap and tell him that none of it mattered, that they would be alright as long as they were together again. But all those thoughts went out the window when she saw him walking down the beach hand in hand with another woman. She was a beautiful woman at that, definitely not a racer slut Barbie like the unwanted bitches in L.A. She had purposeful determination etched in her face that told a story of its own. This woman knew pain. Dominic had chosen her for that reason. She wasn't a weak woman; she could handle his grief.

She almost talked herself out of going to talk to him, and she would have if she hadn't stayed a while longer, long enough to see the woman leave and Dominic's demeanor drop almost completely. Her heart ached. She had done this to him – her death. And she was skulking in the bushes watching him live life without her not even five hundred feet away. It took a few more days to force herself to step out of the shadows. She had been there so long, she wasn't sure the light would find her acceptable again – or if it ever really did. But she had to let him know she was alive at the very least, to save him from berating himself for the rest of his life for not being there to protect her.

Her head told her that she wanted him to be happy with or without her, and maybe a small part of her heart was strong enough to believe that as well. But she had a tiny tattoo on her lower back and a gold ring on a chain around her neck that told another story. She wouldn't give him up without a fight – a damn good one at that. He had a few promises to make good on first.

0

**A/N: Enjoy STR8BKCHICK, lol. As always, reviews make me happy. Don't be lazy button clickers.**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

_**Chapter 4**_

_Oh, yeah. He was pissed. But she was here now; it's not like he could force her to go home – at least she hoped not. A sour look took over her face as he closed in on her, the throng of people instinctively moving out of his way. Who did they think he was anyway? Jesus? She __**knew**__ her ma didn't pray to Dom every morning. He suddenly was towering over her, and she wished that she had heels on._

_His hand curled around her upper arm and jerked her roughly against his chest. "I oughta paddle your ass, little girl", he snarled quietly in her ear, "Told you to stay home."_

_Her fingernails pressed into his muscled stomach, trying to get him to let her go. She looked up and met his eyes defiantly. "I am __**not**__ a little girl", she seethed. "Get your fuckin' hands off me."_

_He tightened his grip on her just slightly as she tried to remove herself from his immediate vicinity. Had they not been in public, this interaction would no doubt turn into an all-out wrestling match. "You ain't got no business bein' here, Let. If something happens to you, it's on my head. And your ma and my dad would tan both our asses. Don't even get me started on the fact that you don't have a license yet, and- just what the fuck are you wearing?"_

_She sighed. Maybe the leather pants __**had**__ been a bit too much… "Please, Dom?"_

_He growled, thoroughly irritated with the girl in front of him. She was going to be the death of him. No matter what she said, he knew she was always going to be a little girl in his eyes. But with an ass like that… He sighed exasperatedly, giving her the stink eye, making sure she knew he was not happy with the words about to come out of his mouth._

"_Go give Vince your keys", he ground out, knowing he really should just send her back to the house. "If something happens, you stay with me. Got it?"_

_She sighed and saw Vince already heading in their direction. "Got it", she muttered. Letty gave up the keys to her Nissan half-reluctantly, even if she knew Vince could take care of it. But she sucked it up and got sandwiched between her two over-protective body guards as Dom led them back into the crowd to start the race._

_0_

_She hadn't even raced, but she was flying high – at least until Dominic all but dragged her back to his car and deposited her in the passenger seat. Her pleading look had been countered with a glare and a dark 'no'. And he drove them home, Vince right behind, only stopping to park her car at her house where it was supposed to be, before walking up the street to the Toretto house. The house was dark; Mia and Tony were asleep. They sneaked in quietly, avoiding the squeaking floorboards and stairs as Vince went to the basement and the two of them crept past the master bedroom to go up the stairs to the second floor._

_Dom had kept a firm grip on her arm until they got into his bedroom and he pushed the door closed. Then he had her pushed up against the door. He wasn't overly rough with her, but it was clear that he was angry. "What the hell's wrong with you, huh? What was this shit tonight? 'Cause I'll tell you what, Let, I don't get it. I really don't."_

"_Dominic", she growled, pushing his hands away from her waist. "Get the fuck off me. I wanted to go out and have a little fun. So what?"_

"_So what?" he repeated incredulously."What if you'd gotten pulled over? You would've gotten a ticket, and you'd have to wait god knows how many years before you could get your license."_

"_I think my outfit alone might have gotten me out of a ticket", Letty rolled her eyes._

"_No, your __**outfit**__ probably would have gotten you arrested", he snapped.__e sigheHe_

"_Did you just imply that I look like a hooker?" she shouted angrily._

"_Letty- I know you're not a slut. You don't gotta dress like one", he said seriously, moving to sit on the edge of the bed._

_She snorted, crouched in the corner of the closed bedroom door. "Ironic, isn't it? All those girls that hang all over you- I'm way more covered up than they were and I'm the one you're saying is dressed like a slut? Real nice, Dom."_

"_I ain't doing this with you, Let", he sighed. "I'm not responsible for those girls, and none of them are fifteen, so don't even try to make that comparison."_

"_You're not fuckin' responsible for me either, asshole", she snapped. "I can take care of myself. You're not my father."_

"_Are you done?" he asked sharply. "Cut the temper tantrum shit. I'm warning you right now, if I catch wind of you being at the races again, I'll drag you home by your hair, kicking and screaming, and let my dad deal with you. You turn eighteen, and you can go to the races and shake your ass – I won't say a word, but not until then. Got it?"_

"_Fine", she bit out tersely, standing up. "I'm going home. Where'd Vince put my keys?"_

"_I've got 'em", he said easily, standing up with her. She was going to murder him in his sleep for this, but-_

_She held out her hand pointedly and finally rolled her eyes. "Keys, Dom, now. I'm done playing tonight."_

"_Yeah, you are. Which is why you're gonna wash that make-up off your face and go crash in Mia's room like you're supposed to be doing. And no. I'm keeping your keys, Let. You aren't getting them back 'til you can take your driving test", he said seriously. "Your car is parked in your driveway where it's supposed to be, and it's gonna stay there unless I'm driving it or in it with you."_

"_That's two __**months!**__" She was literally fuming in front of him. "You __**fucker**__-"_

"_Don't even", he warned tightly. "You've got no business driving in the middle of the night with only a learner's permit, much less to the races – by yourself. All those men, hyped up on speed and adrenaline just looking for some ass… and you're still young and naive. Try to keep it that way for a while, would ya?" Dominic shook his head. "I don't like the idea of someone tryin' to hurt you like that period, much less when I'm not around to protect you. You're a smart kid, and I know you know better. You're better than the stunt you pulled tonight."_

_She looked away, not wanting to meet his gaze, feeling properly chastised for her behavior. She knew he cared about her, she just forgot sometimes when he acted like such an ass. "I'm sorry, Dom", she murmured finally._

_He sighed, any residual anger slipping away. She was still a teenager. He had forgotten that teenage girls could be so stupid and reckless. A few years back, those were his favorite kinds of girls to date. His finger hooked under her chin, tilting her face up towards his and pressed a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Go to bed", he said quietly. "We gotta be up at seven tomorrow."_

_She nodded and headed for the door, letting him reach around her to open it. As she brushed past him, she heard and __**felt**__ the sharp smack. She whirled around, nearly stumbling in shock, to see the man leaning lazily against the doorframe, an amused smirk on his face. He had __**never**__-_

"_Leather pants, Let? Really?" he chuckled._

_Her mouth twitched slightly. "Be glad I didn't wear a skirt." And then she disappeared in to the bathroom, pressing the lock behind her, heart pounding in her chest, leaving Dominic staring at his newly traitorous hand incredulously. She swore under her breath. "What the fuck was that?" He had never touched her like that deliberately. Innocent contact was normal when you spent so much time in the same place as another person, but that had been a little too… hard?- to just be friendly… Finally, she shrugged, deciding that the whole night had been weird, and that it was probably a one-off. She finished getting ready for bed mumbling to herself. "Do yourself a favor and don't ever fall in bed with him… cocky bastard. Probably has a kinky bondage fetish…"_

_To her immense mortification, she heard a barely stifled laugh from the direction she had come from earlier. "Only crazy people talk to themselves, Letty", Dominic teased._

"_**Dominic**__-" she started, a whine crawling up her throat before she stifled it. "Goodnight", she growled crankily._

_He grinned. "Love you too, princess."_

"_I am not a fucking princess", she snarled before closing herself in Mia's room._

_00_

_Finally, __**finally**__, she was allowed to take her driver's test. Dominic had handed her keys back only after jokingly telling her that if she didn't pass, he was taking away her garage privileges. She had punched him. "You'll do fine, Let", he grinned._

_She had left, her mother taking her to the DMV to take her driver's test. When her car pulled up to the garage two hours later, and she got out of the driver's side, she saw Dominic poke his head around the open door. She leaned casually against the hood, twirling her license between her fingers._

"_You all legal and shit now?" he grinned. She nodded, biting her bottom lip to contain her grin. "Then get in here and get back to work", he teased. Letty stuck her tongue out at him but headed in his direction anyway. He caught her arm before she passed, pulling her into a hug. "Good job", he murmured in her hair, kissing the top of her head. "I knew you could do it."_

"_Yeah, I had a good teacher", she chuckled. "Thanks, Dom."_

"_This doesn't mean you can come to the races", he muttered in her ear as they walked into the garage._

_She snorted. "Yeah, yeah, I got it."_

"_Come on. I need your help with the Dodge. The fuel injector system is shot to fuck."_

"_Joy", she teased dryly. "You're such a slave driver."_

"_Move your ass before I take out the whip."_

_She flicked him off over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out._

00

That evening, after spending the whole day searching for Letty, Dominic got everyone settled in for the night and went to see Elena. It was later than he usually came over, but she let him in immediately and without question. He let her lead him to the couch and sat down next to her, hunched over with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped against the back of his head. Her hand circled his back in a slow, soothing manner, but she waited for him to talk.

When he did, he didn't look up at her. "I've been looking for her all goddamn day", he growled roughly.

Her eyebrows went up. "Who?" she asked quietly. It couldn't be Mia – he'd be frantic.

"Letty", he finally said seriously. Then he did look up. "She's alive, Elena. I talked to her yesterday. She was ten damn feet in front of me… and I just stood there."

Her breath hitched. "Oh, Dominic-"

"She told me I had to come find her if I wanted to see her again. I have to find her. I need answers… I need _her_. She's so goddamn stubborn… how could she be so stupid? Even when she was a kid, she never listened to _anything_-"

"I don't suppose you are like that at _all_?" Elena hummed almost teasingly. He was angry and hurt, but reality must be met with a heavy dose of truth. Maybe he had the right to be angry… but there were two sides to every story. He glared at her half-heartedly.

"Fine, fine- taking her side and you haven't even met her yet", he grumbled.

She smiled. "Would I like her?"

Dominic grimaced at the thought of _that_ meeting. "She wouldn't like you, that's for sure", he said under his breath.

"That's not what I asked", she said pointedly.

He snorted. "Yeah, you probably would. She never lets me get away with shit either."

Elena bumped his shoulder playfully. "It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it."

"She's my wife, Lena", he said quietly. "I have to find her."

She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "I know. And since you've got this second chance, don't fuck it up this time, Dominic."

"Jesus, you're a hard-ass", he complained.

She gave him a level look. "Anything I can do to help. Besides, sometimes you need a swift kick in the pants."

For the first time in two days, he finally laughed.

0

It was four-thirty the next day when the inevitable happened. Letty was still unprepared though when she heard the violent pounding on the door. Her heart was racing, pulse pounding in her throat as she walked slowly towards the door. She unlocked it, but left the chain as a safety precaution and peeked through the slat. She pushed the door shut quickly and undid the chain before opening the door again properly.

He towered over her, obviously pissed off and she twisted her amused smirk into a wry smile before he could comment. "Leticia", he growled.

She arched an eyebrow. "Dominic."

Closer to her than he had been in nearly two years, Dominic studied the woman in front of him. She was purposefully taking up the doorway, silently telling him that unless he moved her bodily – which he could – he wasn't coming in this room without her permission. He arched an eyebrow back at her.

"You wanna have it out in the hallway?" he asked seriously.

"Is a door really gonna matter in the grand scheme of things with our lung capacity?" she drawled, clicking her teeth together almost playfully, the way she did when she was nervous.

"Let me in, or I'm grabbing you over my shoulder and taking you home right now. And keep in mind I don't exactly care about whatever shit you brought with you", he stared down at her challengingly.

"You are not hauling my ass anywhere, Toretto", she said through gritted teeth before tensely moving out of his way. She watched as he locked both locks on the door and then turned towards her. Those locks were no longer for her safety, they were intended for privacy.

"We'll see, Letty, we'll see", he murmured darkly. He was advancing on her when his cell phone rang. He scowled as he flipped it open. "Yeah. Brian, I got her. Have Mia pick you up. We'll meet up with you later." And then he hung up without as much as a 'goodbye'.

"Two minutes and you're already making decisions for me? Charming", she hissed sarcastically.

His head snapped up sharply. "What the hell's your problem? The way things stand right now, I'm pretty sure I'm the one who gets to be angry right now, not you."

"You would think that, wouldn't you?" she sighed.

"Are you seriously going to make me out to be the bad guy right now?" he demanded tersely.

"You don't _listen_", she hissed. "I'm not pointing blame, but we were the catalyst of our own clusterfuck. Everything else is white noise. So don't come barging in here like a freakin' Crusader."

"Nice, Letty. That's really nice", he scowled.

"I had to make a choice! I wasn't wrong, Dominic. And I hope you'll eventually see that. Now if you'll kindly excuse me, I have to pack."

She turned to walk back towards the bed that had a small pile of clothes stacked on it. She hadn't taken two steps when he grabbed her arm roughly and whirled her back around. Her body slammed into his chest, fingers grasping at his tank top for a semblance of balance. His mouth sought hers fervently, tongues and teeth clashing, her eyes burning at finally being able to touch him as his fingers dug into her hips.

But they couldn't do it this way, not when he had that woman- she refused to be left again. She pulled away. It had to be his choice. "Dom- no, we can't do this", she managed raggedly. "Not after everything, we can't just fall in bed and pretend everything's okay."

"You're my _wife_. We can fall in bed anytime we want", he rolled his eyes.

"Dominic", she said softly. "No."

"Don't tell me you've been shacking up with some _pendejo_ while you've been _under the radar_", he sneered. She shot him a look that would melt the Arctic. He blinked. Right. She had been following him. "If this is about Elena- Letty… you're the only one I want. She's been a good friend."

"Yeah, I'll bet she has", Letty scowled.

"Don't you want to come see Mia?" he asked finally, deciding to play the 'sister card'.

"How is she?"

"She's been missing you… you and I have a niece, Let", he said quietly.

Her eyes burned as she chastised herself for being away so long. "Brian?"

He smirked, "Yeah."

"Dom… can I come see Mia?" she asked softly.

He reached for her, arms wrapping around her waist, hugging her to his chest. "You don't gotta ask for that. You and I need to have a few conversations, but still you're family. You can stay as long as you want. And you sure as hell aren't leaving until we get a few things straight."

She looked up at him sheepishly. "Okay, so maybe I don't exactly have a plane to catch", she admitted wryly.

He popped her on the ass, "Bitch."

She snorted, pulling away. "I had to light a fire under your ass somehow, Toretto."

"Yeah, 'cause you showing up outta the blue didn't do enough", he sniped sarcastically. "Pack your shit", he said. "I'm not lettin' you stay here."

She sighed and then grimaced. "Fine, but I'm not sleeping with you", she said seriously.

He growled, jaw set tight, and obviously not happy. "You can have the spare bedroom – if Mia let's you sleep at all."

Her hand reached up and stroked his jaw. "I missed you… just in case I don't get another chance to say it."

0

**A/N: Okay, well, I was writing and writing, and I realized that this was getting way too long, so I cut it in half. The good news is that you will get chapter five by tomorrow evening, I believe. As always, reviews make me happy and write faster. Thanks for reading. Let me know what you liked.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

_**Chapter 5**_

"_Goddammit, Mia, I said no", Letty growled irritatedly. It had been three weeks since her seventeenth birthday, and Mia hadn't let up on her __**at all**__._

"_But __**why**__? Letty, I'm not letting this go until I get a reasonable explanation", Mia said seriously, all ninety-eight pounds of her blocking Letty's escape from her bedroom. "What do you have against dating my brother?"_

"_You mean besides the fact that his reputation when it comes to women is worse than Vince's?" she asked sarcastically. "And he's too old for me. My ma would flip her shit."_

"_You'll be eighteen next year", Mia said pointedly._

"_And Dom will be twenty-two", Letty rolled her eyes. "You think I haven't noticed, Mia? I'm not an idiot. He's had his eye on me since I grew tits and an ass. It doesn't mean he wants to date me. And there's no way in hell I'm falling in bed with him. Not now, not ever."_

"_Well, don't hold back on my account", Mia rolled her eyes. "Look, he's my brother, and I love him, but even __**I'll**__ admit he's an ass."_

"_Yeah, well, you've had to clean the bathroom after him."_

_Mia snorted. "He cares about you, you know", she said quietly._

"_Dumb pendejo- he'd better", Letty muttered under her breath. "But he'll lose all respect for me the second I'm naked underneath him in bed. It's not worth that much. So, just drop it."_

"_No, I'm not going to __**just drop it!**__ Do you really think so little of him that you honestly believe he wouldn't treat you better than all the girls-?"_

"_That's it right there, Mia… __**all the girls**__. I won't be another notch in Dominic Toretto's bedpost. Although, I'm kinda curious… Why are you so invested in me helping your brother get his rocks off anyway?" Letty teased archly._

_Mia turned bright red and gagged. "God, Letty, don't be so vulgar. I did not need that image dancing around in my brain."_

"_Leave it alone then, chica. He's my friend – sometimes. I'm not lookin' to mess that up."_

"_Letty… my brother always gets what he wants, one way or another. What are you going to do if he decides he wants you?" Mia asked seriously._

_Letty grimaced. "I highly doubt he'd put that much effort into it. He likes his girls easy."_

"_What if he wants more than just to take you to bed? Gag- I'm sorry I started this conversation", Mia grumbled._

_Letty snorted. "Like what? He also wants to do me in the shower?"_

_Mia covered her ears. "I'm done, I'm done", she whined. "Please stop before I vomit." The backdoor slammed downstairs and the two loud-mouths of the house could be heard all the way from the kitchen. Letty set her jaw and grabbed Mia's arm, pulling her down the stairs. "Letty, what are you-?"_

"_I am going to prove my point and you are going to promise never to bring this up again, got it?" Letty hissed._

"_Aww, Letty, __**no**__- this is such a bad idea-" Mia was still pleading with the older girl as she was dragged into the kitchen._

"_Cat fight?" Vince teased, looking up as they entered the kitchen, somewhat violently._

"_Bite me", Mia growled from her head-locked position under Letty's arm._

"_Can do- Ow! What the fuck, man?" Vince complained, rubbing his head._

"_That's my baby sister, you shithead", Dom rolled his eyes. "Let, you wanna explain why you're tryin' to choke Mia?"_

"_Letty", the girl pleaded warningly._

_She released Mia gently and crossed her arms over her chest, hip jutting outwards to the left. Her chin tilted upwards brazenly. She canted her head to the side, eyes narrowing before letting the words tumble from her lips easily. "You want to fuck me, right, Dom?" she asked evenly._

_Mia inhaled sharply behind her, "Holy shit."_

_Vince choked on the beer he was about to swallow and sprayed half of it on the floor._

_Dominic hadn't moved from his relaxed position against the kitchen counter except for to raise an eyebrow. But he didn't look shocked in any way by her cavalier, seemingly off-handed question. She met his gaze defiantly, knowing whatever his answer was, she wouldn't like it. His eyes took a long, leisure sweep over her body and she tried in earnest to stifle any visible reaction she may have had to his scrutiny._

_Finally he shrugged and took a long drink from his bottle of Corona. "You're not my type."_

_**Bullshit.**__ Absolute, utter bullshit – she was so his type it was quite literally painful sometimes._

_But she nodded once, despite the smirk at the corner of her mouth. "That's what I thought", she murmured. "You prefer ditzy blondes with tits bigger than their heads." And then she was walking through the house and out the front door, despite Mia's protests._

_Vince just blinked incredulously. "What girl has tits bigger than her head? Hook a brother up, Dom."_

_As soon as the door slammed, Mia rounded on her brother, "Dom! What the hell is wrong with you?"_

"_With me?" he repeated incredulously. "I didn't say shit."_

"_Go __**after**__ her, you dumbass", she glared at him ferociously. He just stood there staring at her like she had grown to heads. "__**Now!**__" she shouted._

_He rolled his eyes and pushed away from the counter. "Alright. Jesus, take a Midol or something."_

_She screeched and chucked a shoe in his direction as he left. It hit the door with a smack. "God, he's an ass", she muttered as she passed Vince to get a drink out of the fridge._

_Vince chuckled. "No worries, girl. Letty can take him."_

"_That's what I'm afraid of."_

"_You know what girl had-?"_

"_Vince!"_

_0_

_Letty's house was the fourth to the right of theirs and across the street. She was already crossing the road to her driveway when his feet hit the sidewalk. He chased her silently, hoping he would have the advantage once he caught up with her so she couldn't lock him out of her house._

_Dominic was half way up her empty driveway when she got to the porch steps and he finally called to her. "Letty, come on. Hold up for a sec."_

_She ignored him and tried to make a run for it. He lunged for her, his right arm wrapping tightly around her waist and dragging her back against his chest. She jabbed him in the gut with an unnaturally pointy elbow in a vain attempt to free herself. No doubt she would fight dirty if she had to, but he was stronger than her and had the upper hand._

"_Get off me, Dom!" she shouted, attempting to grind her heel into his shin._

_He hoisted her off the ground and walked up the steps and into her house. He slammed the front door and locked it before tossing her gently onto the couch. "Mind telling me just what the hell is wrong with you?"_

"_Get out of my house", she seethed angrily. "You think I don't know that you're only here because Mia made you? Asshole. Like everything else isn't humiliating enough. I don't want to talk to you right now." She moved around the coffee table to go upstairs to her bedroom, silently declaring their conversation over._

_He beat her to the stairs, blocking her path. "Would you stop walking away from me?" he growled._

"_Stop following me", she snapped back._

"_You kissed me back, Let", he said seriously._

"_Momentary lapse of judgment", she muttered. "It didn't happen, and we aren't going to talk about it. Just get out."_

"_Letty-"_

"_It didn't mean anything! Just drop it. It'll never happen again. I refuse to be another one of your whores. I'm nothing like all those bitches you fucked in high school. And I'll be damned if you think I'm going to lie down and beg you for it", she said tersely._

_He folded his arms across his chest. "Letty, I have never said anything like that to you for you to imply that I think you're any kind of slut."_

"_No, but one night in bed with you would do more than imply that", Letty muttered tersely, looking at the floor._

"_Since when are you too chicken to get what you want?" he asked seriously._

"_I don't want anything from you", she spat._

"_Whatever you say, princess", he teased._

"_I will never fall in bed with you, Dominic", she said quietly._

_He smirked. "Wanna make that a wager?"_

_She rolled her eyes. "I'm not even gonna go there with you." He just waited. She groaned exasperatedly. "What are the stakes, so I can say no properly?" she asked flatly._

"_What do you think?"_

_She snorted. "Who said I was still a virgin, Dom?"_

_He growled, advancing on her until she was pinned against the wall, hands on either side of her head. She dodged his mouth as he leaned in closer to her. He bypassed her mouth and sucked at the pulse point on her neck. Her hands fisted at her sides and she bit her bottom lip roughly._

"_Tell the truth", he snarled quietly against her ear._

"_It's none of your business", she managed hoarsely._

"_Who've you been fuckin' around with, Let?" he demanded._

_She shoved his chest roughly and went for the door, opening it and gesturing him out. "No one, you fucktard", she hissed. "Get out."_

"_Shit- Letty, I'm sorry… that was out of line", he muttered quietly._

"_Ya think?" she shook her head. "Go, please. I'll see you in the garage on Monday."_

"_I didn't mean to hurt you."_

_Her jaw tensed, and her eyes went murderously dark. "Let yourself out", she ground out tersely. Then she ran up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door._

_He scrubbed his hands over his face, berating himself for his stupidity. Dominic swore under his breath and trudged up the stairs. A few years back, when Letty was in ninth grade, she had gotten into it with a few of the snobby girls in her class. He had pulled up to the curb to pick her up just in time to see the Latina's face turn just as scary as it had a minute ago. Instead of throwing a punch or heading for his car, she walked pointedly back into the school. When he went in to get her, he found her stifling her cries of frustration in the janitor's closet. The look didn't show up often, but when it did, it was because she was seriously hurt._

_He didn't bother knocking on her bedroom door and just walked in. She was sitting, curled up, with her back to him on her window seat. Her already stormy expression turned to rage as she saw his reflection in the window. She stood up and whirled around. "Dominic Anthony Toretto, get the fuck out of my room!" she shouted angrily._

"_I didn't come up here to fight with you", he said cautiously. Her eyes were wild like an animal's, and she looked like she was fighting back tears. "Will you let me apologize? Please?"_

"_You already did", she said flatly, folding her arms across her chest defensively._

"_You're still upset", he pointed out softly._

_Letty stepped forward to push him out into the hall, but he grabbed her waist and pulled her against him, stroking a hand through her hair. She tried to get out of his grasp weakly. "Dom-"_

"_I'm sorry", he murmured in her ear. "I'm so sorry, baby. I promised myself I would never be the one making you cry."_

"_Let me go", she pleaded, her resolve not to break down in front of him starting to shatter._

_His arms tightened around her and he kissed the side of her neck, picking her up and moving to the bed and settling her in his lap. "Never", he growled seriously._

_Only a few more silent tears managed to fall before she got herself under control, his hands stroking her back and his mouth on her shoulder bringing her back to the present. She sprang from the bed like she had seen a snake. "Dom… you gotta go", she said shakily. "Whatever the hell this is- it's not happening."_

"_Letty-"_

"_I mean it, Dominic. Please?" she asked seriously._

_He got up slowly and approached her, crowding her space, and she forced herself not to back away. His hand tilted her chin up gently. "I'll go for now, but we are going to talk about this soon."_

_She nearly cried in relief when he left, pulling her bedroom door shut behind him._

_00_

She and Dominic hopped on a tourist bus that took them most of the way through town, and they stepped off about a mile from his house on the water. The bus ride had taken half an hour due to all the stops, but because of all the people, their conversation had been minimal. Now though, it was just the two of them trekking through the city.

They passed through a flea market and stopped briefly. Dominic found a red and gold silk scarf and wound it around her neck. She fingered the tassels curiously and he had paid for it before she could say anything. Her eyes stung traitorously. This was how it should have been, if he hadn't left her. She had nothing to be afraid of when he was at her side. Her hand found his and their fingers twisted together naturally. He squeezed her hand and they kept walking.

It was another twenty minutes before they neared the house. Letty pulled them both to a stop just out of sight. Dominic peered down at her curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Mia- is she going to hate me?" she managed hoarsely, voice low.

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah right. She's usually more forgiving then I am, and even I don't hate you. I'm sort of fighting the urge to throttle you right now, but I could never hate you", he said seriously, pulling her into a comforting hug. "How bad is it, Let?" he asked quietly.

She tensed slightly. "Bad enough, I guess", she admitted finally. "You'll probably be pissed."

"I'm already pissed." He sighed. "We're gonna be alright. Come on."

He led her up the hill and up the porch steps. She sucked in a breath as he turned the handle. The house was silent, and she looked up at him curiously. "Where are Brian and Mia?"

"Probably out back-"

"_**Letty!**_"

Mia's voice smacked her like a basketball to the head, and she barely could reply before she was being cried on. "Mia- _Mia_, Jesus. I'm sorry. I am so sorry. Dom, a little help here?" she pleaded.

He snorted. "Nope, you earned this one."

And then he edged around them and exited, leaving them to talk privately. He went to go find Brian.

00

**A/N: Sorry to cut it off again, but the next one will be up soon. I hope you'll forgive me since I've posted twice in twenty-four hours. I hope part of what you are getting out of this story is that they both have to relive the past to make peace with the present. Review and tell me what you think. I love reading all the comments… it makes me grin like an idiot.**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

_**Chapter 6**_

_**Letty's seventeenth birthday, three weeks before last flashback…**_

_Mia slept over the night before her birthday; and they had stayed up half the night giggling. Mia had talked Letty into holding still long enough for a mani/pedi. Finally, when her nails were dry, Mia had shooed her upstairs to try on her party dress for the next night._

_She trudged up the stairs, hurling curses down at the younger girl. Letty had no clue why she had to try on the dress so many damn times before she wore it officially. She had tried it on in the store last week. Wasn't that enough? She entered her room and flipped the light on. She shrieked._

"_Letty? Are you alright?" Mia shouted, her voice coming from the very bottom of the stairs._

_Letty sucked in a gulp of air. Dominic. Sitting on her window seat. Her head poked out her door. "I'm fine Mia. I just stubbed my toe."_

_Mia snorted. "Keep that up and we'll have to find you some steel-toed boots."_

"_Can I wear them with this dress?" Letty called down teasingly._

_Mia glowered at her. "__**No.**__"_

"_I'll be down in a minute", Letty muttered, rolling her eyes, and disappearing again, pushing her bedroom door shut. "What are you __**doing**__ here?" she hissed exasperatedly. "Dom- did you climb through my window?"_

"_You and Mia having fun?" he chuckled, not answering her question._

"_We always have fun", she murmured quietly, yanking at her sliding closet door. She swore at it and kicked it a few times before the rollers attached to the tracks properly._

"_You should let me fix that", Dominic rolled his eyes._

"_Aw, but I've finally got a system down", she said sarcastically, sifting towards the back to pull out her dress._

"_Obviously", he teased._

"_You still haven't told me what you're doing here", she reminded._

"_Can't a friend stop in for a visit?"_

_She snorted. "I think a friend would be polite and use a door, not climb up the trellis like a burglar."_

"_Ouch, Let. That's harsh."_

"_Life's hard; get a helmet", she muttered._

"_I thought you'd get nicer as you got older", he grumbled, standing up, and moving behind her where she was standing in front of her full-length mirror pulling her hair loose from her ponytail._

_Her eyebrows furrowed self-consciously. She was suddenly very aware of the fact that she was only wearing a tank top and very short shorts. And Dominic was in her room in the middle of the night. Her mother would not be happy – thank god she had to work until 5 a.m._

_She sucked in a breath and stepped around him. "I- I need to change… before Mia comes up here", she muttered, heading to the door for the bathroom and shutting it pointedly._

_Dominic watched her until she disappeared, a Cheshire grin on his face. He heard Letty growl out a string of curse words before there was a thump on the door. He raised his eyebrows in amusement and walked over to the closed door. "I didn't realize dresses were so dangerous", he teased quietly._

"_Would you just- go home so I can go downstairs", she snapped._

"_And, why can't you just come out?" he asked curiously. She swore again and answered in a muffled voice. He sighed. "Letty, I can't even hear you. Just open the door."_

_The door opened just a crack and she stood behind it. "I can't zip this damn dress", she growled. "Mia was supposed to-"_

"_I didn't realize you thought I was stupid enough not to be able to work a zipper", he said sarcastically._

"_Dominic", she whined irritatedly. "Would you just go away?"_

_He knocked on the door with two knuckles. "C'mon, Let. Open up."_

_She growled aggravatedly and he heard her shuffle back from the door. She was leaning against the sink facing the mirror when he walked in cautiously. Just because she had given him the okay didn't mean she wouldn't still throw something at him. "Not a word; I mean it", she scowled._

"_What, 'cause you actually look like a girl right now?" he said lightly._

"_Just- zip the damn dress if you're gonna or get out", she muttered darkly._

"_Touchy", he rumbled quietly moving closer behind her, tugging the tiny zipper up her back carefully, brushing a few loose hairs out of the way. She pulled away as soon as he was done and disappeared from the room and descended in a very unlady-like manner down the carpeted stairs. He couldn't help but grin._

_He heard his sister's excited exclamations and Letty's more sedate responses, and some five minutes later, Letty was coming back up the stairs internally groaning at the thought of dealing with Dominic tonight. If it wasn't one Toretto, it was the other. She closed the door and leaned against it rubbing her forehead. "I love Mia, but she is way too girly sometimes", she said dryly, glancing towards where he was standing against the bathroom doorframe._

_He chuckled. "I wouldn't know. She's never tried to give me a makeover."_

_Letty scowled. "Lucky you- it could be arranged."_

_He cocked an eyebrow at her. "You gonna let me unzip that? Or do you wanna sleep in it?"_

_She swore. "Why'd you climb in my window?"_

_He shrugged easily. "We haven't really gotten any chance to talk lately, so-"_

"_So you thought you'd crash my sleepover with your sister? Are you drunk?"_

"_No, I'm not drunk", he growled, unamused. "Why do you have to be so difficult?"_

"_Will you just unzip my dress?" she sighed. "Dom, we can have this conversation later."_

"_Come 'ere", he said quietly._

_She stiffened slightly and finally approached somewhat cautiously. He reached for her hand when she got close enough. She took his hand, raising an eyebrow as he tugged her gently into the bathroom and pressed her against the sink just as she had been a few minutes ago. He caught her eyes in the mirror._

"_You're fuckin' gorgeous, Let. You know that?" he growled in her ear._

_Her skin heated, half in embarrassment, and half because his voice had sought out that treacherous place inside her that had always longed for his attention. "Dom", she managed hoarsely, shaking her head to clear the fog, "the zipper."_

_His hands slid over her hips and up her sides, and then twisted her hair out of the way over her shoulder. She bit her bottom lip roughly in order not to say anything stupid. The zipper was unnaturally loud as if it was ripping the metal teeth apart, and she held her breath until it stopped just above the curve of her backside._

_She couldn't help the shocked noise she made when his hands slid into the opening at the back of her dress and curled around her waist just above her hipbones. It wasn't intrusive or really even inappropriate, their wrestling matches have had a higher rating, but it was intimate in a way she had never been with him before, or with anyone really. He leaned down and kissed at the bare side of her neck that wasn't covered by her hair._

"_Dominic", she warned breathlessly._

"_Letty, I want you to stop running away from this", he murmured seriously._

_He had been after her for almost six weeks – like __**really**__ after her. Their normally playful banter had taken on sexual undertones, but as soon as he tried to talk to her seriously about any of it, she had bolted. And she had been avoiding being anywhere alone with him for more than ten seconds ever since._

_She was torn. She trusted him with her life, but with her heart? That was another story all together. She knew how he was with the girls he 'dated'. It pissed her off, not just because she was female, but because she knew that with the right woman, he had the potential to be a very good man. But she wasn't sure she could be that person for him, or if he would even let her try. And she didn't want to risk their friendship just to have a few rough tumbles in the sheets._

_It wasn't like her virginity was all that sacred to her – she wasn't like Mia – but if it was going to be Dominic, she refused to end up being another notch in his bedpost. And she wasn't sure if he could handle that. If he would stop kissing her like that, maybe she could clear her head._

_And then he spun her around to face him, his mouth prodding at hers, gently but insistently as he lifted her up to sit on the bathroom counter. She cried out quietly against his mouth, hands clinging to his shoulders as he crowded her space, making room for himself between her legs. Her unzipped dress fell further down her shoulders with all the jostling and he growled against her as his mouth attacked the newly exposed skin. It had been low-cut to begin with, scooping down past her collarbone, and now it sunk down to where it barely covered her breasts._

_His tongue was getting acquainted with the crease between the mounds of flesh when a knock was issued on Letty's closed bedroom door. They jumped apart like marching band cymbals had clashed over their heads. Letty flushed darkly, coming back to the present, realizing not only the compromising position they were in, but also that it was most likely Mia at the door._

_Letty swore under her breath and pushed Dominic back so she could hop off the counter, tugging her dress back up slightly. "You- just stay here for a minute", she hissed, pulling the bathroom door shut. "Mia, I'll be down in a sec", she called desperately._

"_Letty, do you need me to help you with the zipper?" she asked through the door._

"_Nah, I just got it", Letty grumbled, poking her head out into the hallway._

"_Let? You okay? You look kind of flushed", Mia asked curiously._

"_You wrestle with a dress and see what you look like", Letty muttered._

_Mia snickered. "Chill out, Let. You look freaking hot. We're gonna have to get you a stick to beat off the boys with."_

_Letty raised her eyebrows. "Not that I've ever watched, but I'm pretty sure boys don't use sticks for that."_

_Mia flushed bright red. "__**Letty**__", she whined. "That's disgusting."_

_Letty grinned. "Go make some popcorn and pick a movie, 'kay? Lemme change and I'll be right down."_

_Mia disappeared and Letty shut the door again making sure to lock it. She paced back to the bathroom and smacked the door with an open palm. Dominic opened the door and leaned against the frame, smirking down at her lazily._

_She glared at him silently before shoving him out of the way to get into the bathroom to change, slamming the door in his face. She shimmied out of her dress and hung it on the hanger before pulling her tank top and shorts back on. Letty came back into her room and found Dominic lying on her bed._

_She groaned loudly. "Dom! You need to go right now."_

_He patted the bed teasingly. "What? You don't want to come snuggle with me?"_

_Letty grabbed a pillow off the bed and smacked in the face with it. "Asshole", she snarled angrily._

_Dominic cracked up laughing and grabbed her around the waist, tugging her down and then rolling on top of her, his hands pinning her hands down onto the mattress, his knees pressed against her hips._

"_Dominic! Let me up!" she hissed, trying to buck him off of her._

"_Letty", he chuckled. "Calm down."_

"_Dom", she pleaded._

_He glanced at the clock and bent down to catch her mouth for a brief second. "Happy birthday, Let", he murmured quietly in her ear. And then he got off of her and left the way he had come – through her window._

_She turned her head and read her clock. 12:01 am. It __**was**__ her birthday. She smiled and shook her head. Letty pulled herself off the bed reluctantly and went downstairs to find Mia._

_Mia was on her couch, leaning over the back of it and bouncing on the cushions. "Happy birthday, Letty!" she almost shouted. "I get to be the first one to tell you 'happy birthday'!"_

_Letty smiled wryly and went to hug the girl. "Thanks, Mi."_

_0_

_Letty's birthday was a fun affair. Mia had stayed the whole day, getting ready and then helping Lorena and Letty set up the house. She had a few friends over from school and the Torettos and Vince. It was loud and she thoroughly enjoyed herself – especially when Vince walked in and asked where the keg was. Her mother and Tony had both smacked him._

_Dominic and Tony had both given her a hug – she was doing her best not to act edgy about what had transpired the previous night. She had done a fabulous – she thought – job at hiding her distress from Mia so far, and she wanted to keep it that way. Vince had cracked her up though and it eased some of the tension away._

_Vince had followed her into the empty kitchen when she went to get a drink. He had looked her up and down almost curiously, and then frowned. "When the hell'd you turn into a girl?" he asked almost incredulously._

_She laughed. He knew he was one of the only people that got away with saying that kind of shit to her. In part because she really couldn't fault stupidity. The boy had no tact. She had learned that years ago. She didn't even bother getting angry. But he was mostly serious. She snorted and shrugged. "Shit happens, V", she muttered._

"_Any punks give you a problem, you let me know", he said seriously._

_She shot him a half smile. "I think I can handle it."_

_He just shook his head. "It's a __**damn**__ good thing you don't dress like this every day", he grumbled under his breath. He ruffled her long hair playfully and walked away._

_She sighed. She wasn't stupid. Letty knew what he meant. She had hardly recognized herself in the mirror once Mia had finished with her. Her hair spilled in loose curls down her back, and though Mia had reluctantly agreed to go light on her makeup, the bit she had used was incredibly effective. And once she had been zipped into her little black dress, she looked just about ready for the red carpet. Thank god her mother had allowed her to have flat shoes. Letty knew she wouldn't be able to handle heels on top of everything else tonight._

_She had fun with her friends. A few boys from her shop class came, and they were a riot. And the three girls besides Mia, she got to gossip with a bit about their history teacher's latest love interest. But her favorite part was after her classmates had gone home and it was just her family relaxing in her living room._

"_You've got some very well-behaved friends, Letty", Tony said approvingly._

_Dominic snorted from the other end of the couch she was stretched out on, so Letty kicked him in the thigh. "Thanks, Tony", she smiled. Then she stuck out her tongue at Dom childishly._

_He tossed one of the small throw pillows at her and Letty's arms shot up to deflect it from hitting her face. She leaned over and grabbed it from the floor and tossed it at his head when he wasn't looking. She shot him a saucy grin when he glared at her. She didn't have time to bask in her victory before Dominic grabbed her legs and pulled her towards him._

_She shrieked, hands shooting downward. "Dominic! I am wearing a __**dress**__!"_

_He winked at her playfully and let her go. "Come on. You can supervise while I clean up the mess in the kitchen."_

_She groaned. "I thought the birthday person didn't have clean up duty", Letty complained as he pulled her up from the couch._

"_You're not cleaning, you're watching", Dominic argued seriously._

"_Lucky me", she grumbled teasingly._

"_If by some source of magic, he actually __**does**__ clean", Mia called after them, "try to get it on video." Letty snickered as Dominic sent a playful glare over his shoulder to his sister._

_Letty shot him a look as he tugged the sliding door mostly shut, but chose not to say anything as she plopped into of the dining chairs. "So", she sighed, "why am I in here? You need a babysitter?"_

_He rolled his eyes at her. "You have a good birthday, Let?" he asked finally._

_She smiled slightly. "Yeah, I did."_

_He nodded. "Looked like it. That's good."_

"_You and Vince didn't have to come, ya know", she murmured softly. "I figured you guys would have dates and shit tonight – well, maybe not Vince", she rolled her eyes._

"_Tryin' to get rid of me?" Dominic raised an eyebrow. "You think I crawl in random girls' windows on their birthdays to kiss them?"_

"_You would", she frowned. "But how should I know? I'm not a stalker. "_

"_Oh, you quit that, huh?" he teased._

"_Yeah, I picked up smoking instead", she snarked sarcastically._

"_That's much healthier."_

"_Bite me", she scowled._

"_Ask nicer", he grinned._

"_Arrogant asshole", she hissed. He invaded her space then, his hands settling on the back of her chair on either side of her shoulders. "You're a make-out whore", Letty said quietly. "I'm not going to let you add me to that list._

_His mouth found hers then, coaxing it open gently under his. Her tongue chased after his into his mouth, and he was three seconds from hoisting her onto the counter behind him when a disaster occurred._

"_Hey guys, I brought the rest of the cups from the living room to throw away- holy crap!" Mia hissed, covering her eyes as the two of them sprang apart._

"_Is everything okay in there?" Tony called._

_Mia was still standing wide-eyed, but managed to answer her father's inquiry. "Everything's fine, Dad. Dom's actually cleaning. I think I had a heart attack."_

"_Mia-" Letty started tentatively, trying to explain her actions._

"_Not… not right now", Mia shook her head. "We'll talk about this later – at length."_

_Letty just groaned._

0

It took the better side of two hours before Mia was anywhere _near_ satisfied with her explanation. The Italian woman had always found it necessary to talk things to death. '_Nice to see some things still haven't changed'_, Letty thought wryly as she followed her sister-in-law through the house and out to the back porch overlooking the beach. She think she might have promised Mia her first child to make her stop crying, but that was another discussion altogether.

Dominic and Brian both turned from their place at the grill as Mia pushed the sliding door open. Letty stood warily on the door tracks. _Brian._ She wasn't angry with him – it wasn't his fault things had happened the way they did. Fucking FBI agents. She just had no idea what to say to him at the moment.

Finally Brian just sighed, realizing that they were having a staring contest. Letty was still damn stubborn. "A goddamn phone call would have been nice, Let", he scolded, shaking his head exasperatedly.

She rolled her eyes and stepped out, pulling the door shut behind her. "Yeah, well, it would have been nice if hadn't been used as a drug dealer's crash test dummy too. But shit happens."

"Letty", Dominic murmured warningly.

She held a hand up, stopping his unnecessary interruption. "Brian and I are fine, Dominic. We can talk about the other shit later. So, can I have a beer or what?"

Brian snorted and grabbed one from the cooler. He just raised an eyebrow at her. She groaned. "It's like that, huh?" she grumbled, "Bastard." She crossed the deck and stood in front of him, tapping her foot impatiently. Somehow, she got coaxed into a hug. _Was this an afternoon special?_

"I'm sorry", he said quietly against her ear. "If I had known- I would have said no."

She pulled back tensely. "You didn't tell him or Mia, did you?" she whispered, almost pleadingly.

Brian shook his head. "I didn't see how that would have helped the situation."

She nodded. "Thank you."

"We can talk privately later", he said quietly. "Cut him some slack, Letty. We thought you were gone. And he's done a shitty job of moving on from it all. Don't hold out on him for too long."

She blinked incredulously. "Nice to know you're so concerned about my sex life", she muttered dryly.

He groaned. "God, Letty, go away", he complained, shoving her playfully.

She laughed and took the offered bottle before heading back in Mia's direction with a smirk on her face. "Letty… come meet my daughter", Mia said quietly, leaning over a half-covered playpen on the other side of the patio furniture.

"Hey, she's mine too!" Brian called.

Mia snorted. "I did most of the work."

"I don't need to fuckin' _hear_ that shit, Mia", Dom growled from where he was flipping the burgers on the grill.

"Just like my young, impressionable ears didn't need to hear you and Letty going at it like rabbits every night when we lived in L.A.?" Mia said unrepentantly, settling in a cushioned chair with a brown-haired baby.

"I'm burning your burger", Dom muttered.

"Love you too", Mia called teasingly.

Letty bit her lip, trying not to laugh. _This was definitely a new dynamic._ She pulled out a chair next to Mia a little apprehensively. She sat down and was met by a pair of familiar eyes. "Holy shit", she breathed quietly. "She's gorgeous, Mia", she murmured.

"Letty, this is Marisa. Marisa, this is your Auntie Letty", Mia cooed. "You wanna hold her?"

Letty paled. "Uh, Mi- kids aren't really my thing." Mia chuckled, ignoring her and arranged the baby in her lap carefully, adjusting Letty's stiff arms.

Brian watched the situation curiously, ready to step in if necessary, but nearly cracked up at the nearly identical faces of Letty and her niece. They both looked like they were about to burst into tears – and not in a good way. Letty wasn't overcome by emotion. She just looked really damn uncomfortable.

"Letty, relax", he called teasingly. "Babies don't have teeth to bite yet."

She shot him the ultimate dirty look. Brian saw Dominic bury a grin and he shook his head at the two of them. Mia was gonna flip.

0

Dinner wasn't completely awkward. Letty watched curiously as Dominic played with Marisa, an affectionate sort of smile on her face which disappeared as soon as she thought anyone was watching her. But they reminisced over the less painful parts of their lives, and generally kept away from any serious conversation.

Brian and Mia took Marisa to put her to bed leaving the other two the chore of cleaning up the mess from dinner. They had finished some fifteen minutes ago and Brian and Mia were still upstairs, presumably – and very obviously – leaving Dominic and Letty alone. They sat back down at the picnic table after grabbing a couple more beers from the fridge.

Dominic eyed the woman across from him curiously. She was thinking something over intently. It had been a long time since they had really been together, but despite the changes in both of them, he still knew her. He kicked her under the table. She looked up at him, slightly startled back into the present

"'Sup girly?" he asked quietly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

He chuckled. "You were a million miles away."

Letty shrugged. "I was just thinkin'."

"About?" he dragged out, slightly annoyed. This was like pulling teeth – not that she ever really made things easy for him.

"I know where Leon is", she said finally.

He blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Accidental really", she admitted under her breath. "I mean, I'd been lookin' for him too, but I didn't expect to find him there."

"Where? Where the hell have you been, Let?"

She shrugged again. "I've been a lot of places", she sighed. "But I found Leon in the Bahamas."

Dominic frowned. "You got a way to get a hold of him?"

She bit her lip. "Yeah, he gave me his cell phone number. But I don't think I should give it to you. I need to talk to him first."

"Wanna cut the evasive bullshit and just tell me what the problem is right now?" Dom said flatly.

Her jaw tightened in frustration. "You and I have enough problems to figure out before we go looking for more, don't you think?"

"Let-"

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I told him I'd let him know when I found you. I'll talk to him in the next few days and we'll go from there."

He nodded, giving in. "Fine. This is your call."

"You got a 'don't fuck it up' trailin' after that?" she muttered.

"No", he said seriously. "But make sure you tell him that family is always welcome here. That goes for you too. No matter what you decide." He held her gaze until she nodded, looking away, and he got up and headed inside.

0

_**A/N: **__I know, I know. I suck. Keep in mind I __**am**__ on vacation, lol. There have been a few family things that have come up, and I haven't had time to write. I hope you'll forgive me since this is my longest chapter for this story so far. Read and review. It makes me happy._


	7. Chapter 7

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

**A/N: Part 1 – Angst in this chapter, I do apologize… I was hesitant to post because of it, but it had to happen. This story will be cannon. I'm not killing anyone off.**

_**Chapter 7**_

_Mia had never quite let it go after she had caught Letty making out with her brother. Who would, really? Letty had sworn up and down it was nothing – at least that nothing would come of it. It hadn't been a very long conversation, despite Mia's original plan. But Letty brooded over it until Mia left her alone. Mia gave up reluctantly. She had had such high hopes that Letty might engage in a little girly-ness after that… but she hadn't and the situation had more or less died. But as for Dom and Letty's __**latest**__ caper… Mia was whole-heartedly staying out of it, whether they continued pulling the wool over their parents' eyes or not. But it didn't mean __**she**__ wasn't watching them both like a hawk…_

_0_

"_Letty! Would you hurry your ass up?" he shouted up her stairs._

"_Hold your damned horses! I'm almost done!" she insisted._

_The front door opened then and Letty's mother walked in, home from her morning shift at the diner. "Hello, Dom", she said wryly. "What're you and my daughter being loud about today?"_

"_Lorena! Good, maybe you can explain to your daughter this odd concept __**of a schedule**__", he raised his voice pointedly so Letty would hear him._

"_Dom, you'd better shut the fu-"_

"_**Leticia Ortiz, you're not too old for me to wash your mouth out with soap!**__" Lorena shouted._

_The younger girl swore under her breath and popped her head out of the room and glared down the stairs. "Dom! Why didn't you warn me she was home?" she whined._

"'_Cause it's funny when she yells at you", he said dryly. "Would you go put a shirt on so we can get outta here!"_

"_Letty!" her mother scolded exasperatedly. And then she yelled something in Spanish about showing boys her underwear as she headed up the stairs._

_Letty just groaned. "Relax, ma- it's just Dom."_

_Dominic was sitting at the kitchen table when Lorena came back down after changing out of her work clothes, looking distinctly peeved with her daughter. "Dominic Toretto, don't you dare __**tell**__ me that you have eyes for my daughter", she warned seriously._

"_No ma'am, of course not", he said quickly._

_Lorena stared at him shrewdly. "Don't hurt her."_

_He sighed. "I'll do my best." Letty came down a few minutes later, long enough for Dominic to be annoyed at being late and antsy about being further interrogated. "Is the princess ready now?" he ground out tightly._

_She stuck her tongue out. "Well, I left my scepter in my other pants."_

"_Good thing", he muttered, "'Cause you sure as hell ain't gettin' anything else in those ones."_

"_**Dominic!**__" Lorena scolded him again, smacking her hand on the counter top._

_He winced. "Sorry! Letty, let's go before she does permanent physical damage", he insisted seriously._

_Letty waited until they were outside and the door was shut before cracking up laughing. "Dominic, are you scared of my mother?" she sputtered in amusement._

"_Hell yes, I am", he grumbled. "She's scary as shit when she's pissed." Letty laughed the whole walk back to his house as he followed, frowning at her backside. She had probably been eavesdropping. Great. She was sitting in the passenger side of his car waiting for him, and was still grinning when he got behind the wheel. "Stop smiling like that. You look psychotic."_

"_Aww, come on, stop pouting", she murmured._

"_Pouting- Letty, I was already irritated 'cause you took an hour to find a pair of jeans to squeeze your ass into – I'm not complaining since I get to stare at it, but we should've left fifteen minutes ago. And then your ma comes home and practically threatens to castrate me-"_

_She stifled another laugh. "Okay, okay, so you've had a bad day." She scooted over closer to him on the bench seat and slid under his and leaned against his chest. "I guess I should make it up to you…" she tilted her head up and trailed light kisses across his jaw line._

_He caught her mouth briefly before she settled comfortably against him for the rest of the short ride. "Letty, you're way too good at distracting me."_

_She snorted. "Don't even complain about that. You're just easy."_

_She was turned against him just enough that he could smack her ass for that comment. "Sassy", he growled._

_She hummed at him thoughtfully and then pulled away as they parked on the street in front of Hector's cousin's house where they could already hear the base thumping. "Alright, get off'a me", she muttered, escaping from underneath his arm._

"_Hey."_

_She rolled her eyes. "What?"_

"_Stay close. I've got a feeling the cops are gonna get called for this one", he said seriously as they walked up the driveway._

_She snorted. "Dude, I ain't gettin' drunk tonight. I hear sirens and I'm hoppin' the back fence. You just worry about your ass, a'ight?"_

"_Letty, I'm serious."_

"_So am I. Don't hurt yourself, big boy", she teased as she walked inside._

_He was going to have to start tying her up… He blinked and shook the dirty thoughts out of his head that had accompanied his tangent and followed after her. That girl was damn confusing. He __**knew**__ she didn't like this, but she was the enforcer in their relationship. In other words, she was a tease. Not that he could blame her really. But she had adamantly refused to go out with him, and despite the fact that she allowed a small amount of groping and make-out sessions, they weren't really doing anything their parents would deem immoral._

_He wanted more from her though. Not just sex – although thoughts of claiming Letty had charged to the forefront of his mind in the last few months – but he wanted her. She was holding back from him. He knew her well enough to tell. Their friendship was still intact, but her cautiousness was causing him a large amount of frustration. He wondered how long it would take to prove he could be the man she needed him to be._

0

"Let, come on, baby. Will you at least talk to me?" he sighed, closing the door to the guest bedroom behind him and locking them both in. It hadn't taken long for things to come to a boiling point – less than forty-eight hours, to be more specific. Maybe they needed space, but Dominic was tired of tiptoeing around her. So instead of being patient – he had never been good at that – he had provoked her. It had worked wonderfully until she had gone utterly silent and walked back into the guest room she had been occupying. Brian had glared at him and called him an idiot. So he followed her, mildly surprised to find the door unlocked and had let himself inside.

"_Don't_ call me your baby", she hissed warningly. "You lost that right." She was standing in front of the large open window with her back to him. "Not when I don't trust you not to dump my ass at the next sight of trouble to 'protect me'. I still love you, Dominic, but you're an asshole."

"You really wanna play hard ass with me, sweetheart?" he asked bitingly. "You won't win."

"You'd better check yourself, Toretto", she growled, turning around to face him. "It's been a long time, Dom. And you've got no idea what a scorned woman is capable of."

"Last _I_ checked… you were a Toretto too", Dominic folded his arms across his chest. "I was trying to keep you _safe_, Letty. What's the matter with you? When the hell'd you get so damn stupid?"

She snorted. "That's rich coming from you."

"Cut the shit and answer my question", he ordered tersely.

"I was fuckin' _late_, you jackass", she seethed finally.

He stared at her like she was some foreign object. "Come again?"

"My period", she said flatly. "By the time I got back to L.A. - I had to buy a pregnancy test. It was positive. Dom… I got pregnant the night you left."

"Are you saying we have a kid?" he asked incredulously. All the muscles in his body were tense, reading her body language. He knew this wasn't going to end well.

Her jaw tightened and she looked away, shaking her head. "No."

He sucked in a lungful of air, but the tension in no way began to dissipate. He approached her slowly, cautious as he gently took hold of her forearms as she began folding into herself. "Letty… tell me what happened", he persisted softly.

"Fenix", she whispered hoarsely. "The car accident- I lost the baby. No one knew. Brian and Mia… this isn't anyone's fault but mine."

His hands palmed her face, swiping away the slow falling tears as he guided her body fully against him. "I'm so sorry you went through that alone", he murmured littering light kisses over her face. "I wanted to know you were safe if anything happened to me. I could never bear watching you get taken from me."

"I just wanted you", she managed painfully. "You've been my whole _world_ since we met. When the hell did you decide that needed to change? I mean, granted, I was already planning to hunt down your stupid ass, but-"

"Being without you was fuckin' _torture_, Let. But I told myself I could handle it as long as I knew you were alright. I've always thought you could do better than me anyway", he muttered ruefully.

She slapped his chest. "Are you shitting me right now?" Letty demanded angrily. "Seriously? You think I can do better than you? Better than someone who has watched out for me and taken care of me for practically my whole goddamn life? You must've had really high hopes for me, baby, because no one else has _ever _done that for me. It's times like this that I really have to wonder about your issues. Do you think I'm such a wholesome, self-righteous bitch that I would judge you for your past or your flaws? It's not like you hid that shit from me. I was _there!_ Or do you think I'm just weak enough not to go after what I want. Funny thing is… I thought I _had_ you already. I didn't know I still needed to be chasin' after you – especially after all the shit that it took for us to get it together in the first place. Even though that's what I've been doing for the past two years! You're it for me, Dominic. I wouldn't have said yes otherwise. You come back and talk to me when that finally gets through your thick head. Until then, I'm going to sleep."

"That bed's pretty lonely without you", he said quietly.

"Dom", she protested softly.

"You know it's killing me having you right down the hall where I can't just touch you whenever I want. I just want one good night of sleep, Letty", he said seriously.

Her eyes closed briefly. "Stay with me tonight", she murmured softly. "We're both already here."

He chuckled. "What? Don't want to be seen sneaking into bed with your husband?" he teased.

"Will you just hold me tonight? Please?"

"Wow, you really do know how to kill a guy's spirit", he grumbled.

She snorted. "Quit bein' a baby. Dom… I just really need you to hold me tonight."

He sighed and tugged his t-shirt over his head. He pulled her against his chest. "You know I'd do anything for you – even if that does include blue balls for the next six months", he groused.

She laughed quietly. "Behave tomorrow and I'll see what I can do for you."

"That a promise?" he looked down at her with narrowed eyes.

She peered up at him with sparkling eyes and a smirk twitching at the corner of her mouth. "I missed you too, Dom. So much. Let me catch up on sleep tonight, and I swear I'll have enough energy for both of us tomorrow night."

He unzipped his pants and pushed them to the floor before stepping out of them. "I'm holding you to that", he growled against her neck.

"Bed now, please", she reminded tugging off her shorts.

They crawled into bed and curled against each other tiredly, with her back against his chest. His hand slid under the bottom of her t-shirt to rest on her stomach. "Love you, Let", he murmured into her hair.

"Yeah, I know." He pinched her side lightly and she chuckled sleepily. "I love you too." She drifted to sleep peacefully within minutes and he kissed her head.

"Don't blame yourself, baby. It wasn't your fault", he muttered softly before he followed her to Dreamland.

They didn't say it often. 'I love you.' Usually it was after they pissed each other off. Actions spoke louder than words most of the time. They weren't the type of people to say what they didn't mean. But when actions failed them – when they fucked up – sometimes words could heal just as much as they had the ability to hurt. They would have to talk through this one. Neither of them was looking forward to it.

0

_Letty was almost eighteen by the time her senior prom rolled around. Mia was so jealous she forced Letty to storm every possible shop to find the perfect dress. Letty wanted to strangle her with a scarf. But Mia's persistence paid off, and after three days of torture, they found what Mia deemed the perfect dress. Letty muttered that she looked like a mermaid. To which Mia promptly replied, 'So you wanna keep looking then?'_

_Why she ended up getting ready at the Toretto house – especially after Mia and Lorena had firmly dictated there were no boys allowed in Mia's bedroom while they tortured Letty to beauty._

"_Pain equals perfection my __**ass**__", Letty scowled as Mia yanked a hairbrush through her tangled wet hair._

"_Quit griping", Lorena scolded. "You don't even have your heels on yet."_

_Letty groaned exasperatedly. "Yeah, how'd I get vetoed on flat shoes anyhow? They're __**my**__ damn feet."_

"_It's prom", Mia said simply. "You have to wear heels so your dress doesn't drag."_

"_Then they shouldn't make dresses so freakin' long", Letty argued fruitlessly._

"_Alright, shut up and hold still so I can do your make-up while Lorena finishes your hair", Mia ordered._

"_Light on the make-up, Mia, I mean it. I don't need to look like a prostitute."_

"_Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first twenty times", Mia muttered. "And I'm a little offended by that."_

"_Oh, just get it done with."_

_0_

_**Finally**__, just before Letty was about to scream bloody murder, she was declared done. __**Thank God**__. She slipped into her heels with a glare, but her mother tugged her gently to look in Mia's full-length mirror. She stared at her reflection in awe._

"_Still think you look like a mermaid?" Mia teased archly._

"_You guys are miracle workers, I swear", Letty murmured back. Her hair freaking __**sparkled**__. She supposed it wasn't a fair compromise that her hair didn't have to be down if she wore heels considering what had been done to it. It was some sort of messy bun up-do, not quite like Cinderella, but damn near close._

_Her dress was mostly aqua colored that became bluer in sections down the bodice and skirt. The bottom of it was a deep purplish blue that matched her shoes. Her only jewelry was a set of diamond studs her mother had gotten her for her sixteenth birthday and a small silver pendant around her neck._

"_No, mija", Lorena said seriously. "You really are that beautiful." Then she went for the hairspray again and Letty groaned._

"_Ma, no more fussing. And stop tryin' to make me cry."_

_Lorena chuckled. "Alright, come on. Time for your debut."_

"_You guys shoulda let me go down the stairs before I put my heels on."_

_Mia bit her lip. "Probably best to take them off", she sighed. "We don't need you ending up in the hospital looking this good."_

_Letty swatted at her friend's ponytail and slipped out of her shoes, holding them carelessly on her fingertips and snatched her clutch purse disdainfully from the bed. "Alright, no more of anything else. I'm done. Let's go downstairs already."_

"_You realize my brother is probably gonna flip", Mia hissed as they followed Lorena down the stairs._

"_Oh, shut up Mia. He is not. Dom only gets excited over car parts and big tits. And I've got neither in this dress", Letty rolled her eyes. "I don't give a shit what he thinks anyway."_

_Mia took her turn to roll her eyes. "Sure you don't", she drawled musically._

"_He's not my boyfriend, we aren't dating- I don't care", she muttered as they stepped down into the living room. She glared at the wolf whistle from Vince._

"_**Damn**__, girl, look at you- all sexy and shit", he grinned._

"_Man, don't make me come over there and slap that smirk off your face", Letty threatened._

"_Yo, Dom!" he yelled back in the direction of the kitchen. "You ain't gonna __**believe-**__" Mia tackled him onto the couch, smacking his face with a pillow. "Oww! Dammit, Mia", he whined. "That was brutal."_

"_Could you not make this situation worse than it already is?" she hissed._

"_How 'bout you get off'a me?" he suggested teasingly, ignoring the fact that he had no idea what she was blabbing about._

_Mia didn't even answer him before she was being scooped off of him by Dominic. "Don't you know better?" Dom snickered. "His ego bruises easy."_

"_Bro, that was cold", Vince scowled, pouting._

_Mia snickered and nudged her brother's ribs with her elbow, pointing him towards Letty who was talking to their father. Dominic's face went unreadable. "She looks pretty, don't ya think?" Mia said quietly._

_He raised his eyebrows and looked down at his sister somewhat irritatedly. "You know something I don't?"_

"_Why'd you answer a question with a question?" she asked pointedly. "Look, Dom, if you can't acknowledge the blatant fact that Letty-"_

"_I know exactly what Letty is", he interrupted in a serious undertone. "She deserves to have her night. Let it go, Mia."_

"_Dom", she groaned exasperatedly. "You're stupider than Vince sometimes."_

"_Hey!"_

_She smirked. "Reality check, bro. As far as girls go... she's the only one who doesn't give a shit about whatever image you're trying to make for yourself. You know she would never use you to make a name for herself. Give her a little credit, Dom. And stop sneaking sluts into the house after you think I'm asleep."_

_He groaned. "Mia-"_

_She folded her arms across her chest and gave him what he called the 'I'd like you to eat dirt' face. "If you say you 'have needs'… I think I might vomit on your shoes."_

"_Vince?" he questioned, glaring at the back of his friend's head._

"_Would you feel better if I said I heard it from someone else?" she teased._

"_No", he growled._

"_So, are you going to stand here and look stupid, or are you gonna go talk to Letty?" Mia inquired._

"_I think I'm gonna just stand here- I don't look stupid", he rolled his eyes at her._

"_Chicken", she teased. "She's leaving in a minute. Then what are you gonna do?"_

"_I have a date tonight", he answered flatly. "Not that it's any of your business."_

"_What corner did you find this one at?" Mia sighed, shaking her head._

"_Did you and Let trade places for the night?" he asked wearily. "I was sure you and I were not fighting."_

"_Just wondering why you bother with all the other girls when the one you want is right under your nose", Mia muttered. "She won't wait forever, Dom."_

_Letty turned then and hollered something to Mia about her lipstick. Mia fished in her pocket and pulled out the tube. She headed towards Letty hastily and passed her the item, muttering something about the camera they had forgotten upstairs. Dominic was picturing Mia with her mouth taped shut when she came back seconds later with the camera and the tripod and began directing everyone where to stand._

_It wasn't until she suggested Letty stand in front of Dom while he put his arm around her waist that anyone argued. They both visibly balked at the idea, turning near identical glares at the girl. Mia was in no way intimidated though._

"_Mia, he is __**not**__ my date", Letty scowled ferociously up at the man in question._

"_Yeah, let's talk about the reason you __**don't **__have a date- even though I know you had at least four different guys ask you", Dom stared down at her._

"_Six", she muttered under her breath. "And you scared off the first three, so they technically don't count. And I'm going with my friends- so just shut up."_

"_Oh, that's mature", Dominic said dryly._

"_You know what? Why don't you just-?"_

"_**Enough!**__" Tony's voice rose over the bickering. "Disagreements are one thing, but this family does not snipe at each other. You both know better. So either talk productively and settle whatever your issues are, or shut your mouths and table it until you can both act your ages. Now, apologize to each other and line up. You've got thirty seconds or I'll ground you both."_

_Silence._

"_I'm sorry", Letty muttered grudgingly. She __**was**__ sorry. Sorry she couldn't smack him over the head with something – preferably his ego which she was sure weighed five tons._

_He sighed. "Let- look, we both know I acted like an ass-"_

"_Everyone knows you acted like an ass", Vince interrupted helpfully._

"_I'm sorry", Dom said seriously._

"_You're an idiot, and I'm still mad at you. But I'm sorry too", Letty said quietly._

"_Can we take one freaking picture now?" Mia demanded._

"_Yeah, you'd better hurry up too", Dom said dryly as he and Letty got into their designated spots, "Before Cinderella over here turns back into a pumpkin."_

"_It was the carriage that turned into a pumpkin, you reject", Letty muttered, elbowing him in the ribs. "And I'll tell you what, if my car turns into some kind of vegetable while I'm gone, I'll be pissed."_

_He snorted as Mia set the timer and quickly took her spot. "With the way you drive, that engine will be apple sauce in no time, lead foot", he smirked._

_Letty was grinding her heel into Dom's foot as the camera flashed._

_Five minutes later, when a car pulled into the driveway, Letty ran out the door, only to stick her head back in before it shut. "You know, Mia, maybe these heels __**are**__ good for something", she called teasingly. And then she was gone._

_**0**_

_**A/N: Sorry to cut it off. The rest of this flashback will be in the next chapter. I thought you guys needed an update already, and this was getting long. Review and let me know how it went… Again, I apologize for the angst. I just think Letty needed a bigger reason than just her to do what she did for Dom. And if she did have his kid, she would have hauled ass to find him, no matter what happened. As a whole, this story will not be overly dramatic, but snippets might happen, just a warning. Send me reviews. They make me happy.**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

_**Chapter 8**_

_When Letty got home that night it was well after two a.m., and she crept through the Torettos' back door quietly. She pulled her heels off immediately as she stepped into the kitchen and let out an exaggerated groan of relief. She started abruptly as she walked into the living room._

"_Everyone else is asleep", he rumbled quietly from where he was sitting on the couch in the darkness._

"_Dom- are you waiting up for me?" she raised her eyebrows and padded over to him cautiously._

"_Just wanted to make sure you got in okay", he said standing up._

"_You worry too much", she murmured softly._

"_You tend to attract a lot of trouble", he growled, eyeing her pointedly._

_She smirked wryly. "Like you? Yeah, I noticed that."_

"_Smartass."_

_She grinned. "I try."_

"_Letty, about what happened last week-"_

"_Dom", she groaned. "Not now, alright? It's late, and I've been wearing these damn heels for like seven hours – which is longer than all the times I've __**ever**__ worn heels put together, and my feet hurt. So if it's all the same to you, I'd just like to go to bed."_

"_Did you have fun tonight?"_

_She turned slightly, staring at the wall. "I did, actually", she admitted quietly. "I didn't think I would… granted, I don't think I wanna spend that much time on my hair and make-up __**ever**__ again, but it was fun for one night."_

"_Let's go to bed."_

_She crossed her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "On what __**planet**__ do you really think I'm gonna get in bed with you on prom night? Especially after you spent all night making out with Sandy what's-her-face", she glared._

"_Nice to see you've picked up my sister's flair for the dramatic", he rolled his eyes. "Come on", he continued persuasively. "I'll give you a foot massage."_

_Her mouth twitched. "Are you whining?" she teased._

"_You gonna sleep with all those pins in your hair?" he asked archly. "Can you even get out of that dress by yourself?"_

"_Dammit", she groaned. "Fine, but let me get my bag from Mia's room", she muttered heading for the stairs._

_He followed behind her silently. "Don't wake her up, or you'll never go to sleep", he warned as they stopped at his sister's closed bedroom door._

_She shushed him and crept into the room silently, grabbing her duffle bag from the corner by the closet and leaving just as quietly, pulling the door shut behind her as she stepped into the hallway and followed Dom down the hall to his room._

"_Hair or dress first?" he asked dryly._

"_Dress", she muttered. "Why is it that every time I'm in a dress – mind you it isn't often – you're always the one taking me out of it? That's really fucked up."_

"_Fate", he supplied after a minute. "I see the real you, Let. Nobody better to bring you back to reality. Besides", he smirked, "Would you rather have someone else undressing you?"_

"_I would rather stop getting shoved into outfits that I can't get out of by myself", she scowled._

"_Turn around, princess", he twirled his finger at her._

"_Moron", she groused even as she put her back to him._

"_You looked way too grown up tonight, Let. Nothing like the girl on overalls trailing after me wanting to learn how engines work", he said ruefully._

"_I haven't worn overalls since I was eleven." She sighed as he tugged the zipper of her dress down. "I'll be eighteen in six weeks."_

_He hesitated a moment before letting her go. "I know."_

_She stepped away and tugged a pair of shorts on under her dress before lowering the top half to pull on a tank top. She was __**not**__ giving him a free show tonight. Finally she shimmied out of her dress and draped it over the chair at his desk and turned around._

_He rolled his eyes at her. "Cute", he muttered sarcastically. She smirked and crawled across his bed to sit in the middle. "The next time you do that, I'm smacking your ass", he said seriously, "Tease."_

"_Yeah, and it's so hot in April that you can't manage to keep your shirt on in the garage", she quirked an eyebrow._

"_Busted", he muttered wryly._

"_Damn straight", she shook her head._

"_You like the view", he pointed out with a grin._

"_Yeah, sharks are pretty in movies too", she said quietly._

_His mouth twitched. "Are you afraid to get eaten?"_

_She groaned and threw a pillow at him. "I know I was asking for it, but __**really**__?" she complained._

_He moved behind her on the bed and she leaned against his knees as he started disassembling her hair. "Talk to me", he prodded quietly. "Letty, you can't just pretend this isn't happening. I know it bothers you, but I think you've had enough time to yourself."_

_He was right, even if she'd rather not acknowledge it. She inhaled deeply forcing her muscles to relax. "You've been out there making a name for yourself, Dom", she said quietly. "I don't want to turn into something I'm not just to make anyone happy. And I don't want to lose myself and just coast along. I just- I don't see how it will end well."_

_He turned her head towards him. "One, I would never ask you to change yourself. I fell in love with you because of all the little things that make you who you are. And two… sometimes you just have to take a chance, Let."_

"_I want to trust you, really I do, but if we got together- I would __**not**__ be okay with you sluttin' around, Dom", she raised an eyebrow._

"_That's a given", he rolled his eyes. "And you would __**more**__ than occupy my time, I think."_

"_Are you insinuating that I'm difficult?" she asked archly._

_He smirked. "No, I'm just pointing out that I've never been bored with you around."_

"_But you do like all the attention – and the women. Don't pretend that you don't", Letty said flatly._

"_As long as I get to take you home every night, I swear I'll be satisfied", he said seriously._

"_Uh-huh", she muttered skeptically. "And while we're on the subject of sex-"_

_Dominic snorted. "Who's thinkin' dirty thoughts now?"_

_She bit her lip. "I need to think about this… but we will have to talk __**that**__ before anything happens."_

"_I want you to trust that I won't hurt you, Letty. Let's work on that first, alright?"_

_She sighed. "Okay. Now will you please get these pins outta my hair? I feel like a Martian. And god help you if you're ever stupid enough to cheat on me. I will knock you on your ass, and you will never come near me again."_

0

"So, are you going to tell me the truth? Or are you going to keep assuming that I'm really that stupid?"

Dominic sighed. The few minutes of silence they had together had been nice. And now it was gone. "Letty, what are you going on about?"

She sat up on the beach towel next to him where they were laying at the edge of the water. Letty stayed silent for a minute. "Elena", she said flatly.

He sat up too. If she started throwing punches… he knew from experience just how good her aim was. At this rate, he _wouldn't_ get her pregnant again. "What about Elena?"

"Did you fuck her?"

"Let-"

"It's a yes or no question, Dominic. If you say 'it's complicated', so help me god, I will make you eat sand", she growled.

"You know, I'm starting to think you're starting arguments on purpose", he stared at her.

"Dom, just answer the question", she muttered.

"Fine, yes, Letty, we had sex", Dom rolled his eyes. "Does knowing honestly make you feel better?"

"I never said I wanted to know because I thought it would ease _my _conscience, dickhead", she sent him a frosty glare. "'We're just friends'- Dom, you're so full of shit. You should know better by now than to lie to me. If I can't trust you… the one I've given practically everything to, where does that leave me?" She got up and headed into the waves.

He sighed and went after her. The water was halfway up her thighs when he caught her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back against his chest. "I'm not in love with her, Let", he murmured seriously into her ear, ignoring the way her body was rigid with frustration. "I've never loved anyone the way I love you. I told her you were alive… she practically threatened to kick my ass if I didn't do my damndest to bring you home." He kissed the side of her neck. "Her husband was a cop in Rio", he continued a bit wryly. The irony wasn't lost on him. "He was killed in the line of duty. She joined the police force because she wanted to make it safe there."

"You slept with a woman – a cop nonetheless – who tried to put you in jail… Dom, you're an idiot", Letty snorted, shaking her head.

She hadn't tried to deck him yet, which was always a good sign, and he wasn't going to let go of her until this was straightened out. "She said she had been intrigued by me", he rolled his eyes. "She said she couldn't believe the death of one woman would send anyone on a path that caused such destruction with little chance at personal gain. She knows how much I love you, Letty, because that's how much she loved her husband. I never stopped. If her husband was somehow found alive, she would have dropped my ass like a hot potato. And it would have been the right thing to do. She asked me if she would like you", he laughed under his breath.

Letty elbowed him impatiently when he didn't finish his thought. "What'd you tell her? 'No, my wife is a jealous psychopath; run far away'", she teased.

His arms tightened around her briefly. "She'd really like you, Let. I know this isn't the time… but I think you'd really like her too."

"Dominic, I do not want to meet the woman you were sleeping with and become shopping buddies", Letty twisted around to glare up at him. "I hate shopping."

He raised an eyebrow at her and she swore internally, knowing he would get his way sooner or later if she wasn't careful. "I meant what I said. She _is_ a good friend. I'm not going to disregard that. Are you _aware_ of just how long you've been gone, Let? I thought you were _dead_."

"And she was there when I wasn't. I get it", she said tightly.

"Don't put words in my mouth. I _never_ would get over if something happened to you. Elena… she and I wouldn't have ended up together, and you need to know that. I needed _somebody_ who had some kind of idea what I was going through. Letty, if I thought for one second there was a chance you were out there somewhere… nothing else would have ever entered my mind until I was sure."

She reached up and wrapped her hands behind his neck, pulling his face closer to her as she pressed against him. "Don't misunderstand me, Dominic. I don't blame you for that. It doesn't make it any easier to hear… but I don't want you to lie to me about anything." His hands slid over her ass and curled around her thighs, hoisting her up. Her legs wrapped around his hips as he walked up the sandbar and laid her across the towels, his hips still pressed between her legs. Her hips rolled upwards against him and she barely stifled a cry of need. She would _never_ be able to let another man touch her.

His hands roamed her body roughly with familiarity. And she was grasping at fistfuls of sand, finding no purchase as he surrounded her. He pulled away the barely-there fabric of her black bikini top and his mouth was on her breast. She arched into the moist warmth of his mouth as she absently registered the tugging on the string on one side of her bottoms and then cried out sharply at his fingers encountering her own wet heat. Her fingertips dug into his shoulders, and she couldn't bring herself to care that Brian or Mia might have the unpleasant fate of seeing them.

She rode his hand rhythmically with each stroke, his mouth searching out all the other sensitive areas of her body. His strategically place thumb sent her over the edge and she cried out his name against his neck as she spasmed underneath him.

His fingers stroked her lightly until she came down from her high. He felt her unclench, and pulled his fingers out of her, wiping them on the towel. She breathed deeply, her chest brushing against his, and she sent him the same sexy little smirk that had always clued him into her playful moods when they were younger.

Dominic wasn't sure how he ended up on his back, but she was straddling his abs looking quite smug when she leaned down to kiss him. "Let me take care of you, papa", she murmured against his lips. She was sliding backwards over him carefully and it took a minute for him to get his bearings and figure out what this Devil's Angel was up to.

His hand grabbed her wrist gently before it dove down the front of his swimming trunks and straight into mischief. He had always loved watching her come, and if he took her this second, he would have no thoughts of being gentle. Her head tilted, eyebrow cocked in a playful, but somewhat annoyed expression. "What?"

He let out a long sigh. "Letty, I think we need a bed for this."

She rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you just say so?"

"I just did, you little shrew", he growled playfully.

"I swear, once I die for real, I'm gonna hunt Shakespeare down and kick his ass", she scowled.

"Yeah, you hated English class didn't you", he snorted.

"The _Canterbury Tales_ didn't suck too badly. Dom?" she murmured.

"What?" he said teasingly, taking the same tone she had a minute ago.

"Take me to bed."

"I dunno… I'm a little worried about giving in too easy. You won't respect me in the morning", his mouth twitched.

She punched his chest. "You're an asshole", she laughed, crawling off of him and standing up.

"And you married me", he countered.

"What was I thinking?" she teased. "I love you. You're carrying me or the towels."

"That's a trick question", he grumbled getting up as well. "If I carry you, I'll still end up carrying the towels. And if I carry the towels, you'll bitch at me and we won't have sex for another month."

She snorted. "The few times I froze you out was not over something as stupid as towels. And there's only two, so get haulin', buddy."

He rolled his eyes and shook the sand from the towels, folding them haphazardly. "I _really_ missed you, baby", he drawled.

She chuckled. "I can tell. What happened to 'carry your own damn towel'?"

He shoved both towels into her arms and then scooped her up, laughing at her shriek of surprise and started jogging back up to the house. "I piss you off enough on accident. I wanna get laid before I do it on purpose", he growled against her neck as he walked up the steps to the deck.

"You're like… the smartest idiot I've ever met", she snickered.

"Thank you?" he made a face.

"Come on, big man. I want to be naked in your bed", Letty murmured, a dirty smile crossing her face.

His mouth turned up in a wide grin. "I've got no complaints about that."

The towels got dumped into the washer and he led her upstairs and down the long hallway to his bedroom. He kicked the door shut behind them and turned the lock. His hands curled around her slim waist and he picked her up to walk across the room to the queen-sized bed and tossed her onto it playfully. They were in for a long night.

00

**A/N: I know, I know. I'm evil, lol. No worries, the next chapter is well under way. And the subject of Elena has been more or less settled. She will appear within the next few chapters very briefly. She is curious about Letty. Hmm… I wonder how Letty is going to react to that- I think I'll be hiding the knives.**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

**A/N: I'm sorry it took so long for an update! I've been distracted by real life, and I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do in this chapter, but I finally decided on a direction. Yes, there **_**will**_** be smut in this chapter, so everyone just chill. Lol. Read the rest of the chapter though. Don't just skim for the dirtiness. I know how you are. ;)**

_**Chapter 9**_

_The week before Letty turned eighteen, she was a living blur. Mia was the only one who saw her for more than just a minute at a time. She came in and did her work in the garage, but she kept her headset on her ears and blocked out the rest of them. Vince got annoyed when she couldn't hear him shouting at her from across the garage, but Dominic just kept an eye on her. She was trying to pretend that she wasn't getting cold feet._

_Her birthday came and went with the usual amount of festivities, and when a few days of normalcy followed, she let out an internal sigh of relief. The following Friday things took a turn. Rain had put a halt to any plans for racing that night, and Letty found herself home alone watching a movie when the doorbell rang. Her mother was at work, and the only person it would most likely be at her door was Dominic. Mia wouldn't come out in the rain._

_Letty buried a shiver as she walked over to the front door. She'd had dreams that started like this. Dreams that ended with them tangled in her sheets. She shook her head roughly, dislodging rampant thoughts and a few chunks of her hair from her ponytail. She stood on her toes and looked out the peephole._

_She unlocked the bolt and opened the door. __**Damn.**__ He looked yummy. She tried not to drool. "You're all wet", she raised her eyebrows. "What're you doing here?"_

"_What, a friend can't drop in on another friend for a visit?" he asked curiously._

_Letty snorted, shaking her head. "Come on in. I'll get you a towel." She heard him shut the door as she went upstairs to the hallway linen closet and grabbed a towel._

_He was leaning against the back of the couch, eyeing her curiously and she threw the towel at him. "What are you doing over here by yourself?" he asked quietly._

"_Watchin' a movie", she shrugged; walking around him and flopping back on the couch and snuggling back under the blankets._

_He took a seat on the cushion next to her and pulled her over gently to leave against his chest. She tucked her head under his chin. "Hiding under the blanket, Let?" he teased gently._

"_Maybe", she shrugged._

"_Been missing you", he said quietly._

"_I've been busy."_

"_Liar."_

"_Dom-"_

"_Don't try to bullshit a bullshitter, sweetheart", he chuckled._

_She pulled away slightly to see his face. "Are you sure?" she asked softly._

_He ran a hand through her hair. "You know how I feel about you… Do you love me, Let?"_

_She sucked in a sharp breath. "Yes", she whispered finally. "I don't want you to break my heart, Dom."_

"_It would kill me if I hurt you, Letty", he said seriously. "I know you and I both have shitty tempers, but I've always cared about you."_

"_We're good friends, Dominic… I don't know what I'd do if we ruined that", she shook her head._

"_Friends first, Let, always. I think it's worth the risk, don't you?"_

_**I sure hope so,**__ Letty thought. She sat up a little more, turning her neck and caught his mouth with her own. His arms went around her waist and tugged her into his lap. Her arms looped around his neck and she whimpered as his tongue slipped into her mouth. She had enjoyed the past few months, the random make-out sessions, but had been serious about her boundary lines. Now though… she wanted him so bad she could taste it. It was probably too fast as far as their relationship status went, but she knew she had loved him for a long time. His hands slid up her tank top and Letty cried out as his hands gently cupped her bare breasts, thumbs flicking her nipples._

_His mouth scorched her skin before sucking roughly at her clavicle. "Dom", she hissed, hands gripping his shoulders tightly. He looked up, mouth detaching from her skin, and her breath caught in her throat at the look in his eyes, and forced herself to remove his hands from under her shirt._

"_What?" he growled roughly._

_Her mouth twitched, and she leaned her forehead against his. "You're still gonna respect me in the morning, right?"_

_He snorted. "Letty-"_

"_I'm not a skank, Dom."_

"_I know you're not. You're the one who's convinced that you having sex with me is gonna make you some kind of whore. I've never thought that about you, and you should know that by now. It's different, Letty, I promise."_

_She nodded slowly. "Okay. Can we at least use a bed then?" she quirked an eyebrow._

_He chuckled and squeezed her ass as he stood up, taking her with him. She wrapped her legs around his waist, sucking at his neck as he walked up the stairs and into her room. Letty reached out and shoved the door closed as they walked in and he laid her out in the middle of the bed, climbing over her._

_His knees were pressed against either side of her thighs as he straddled her, and his hands rested on the mattress above her shoulders. "Are you sure?" he asked quietly. "I don't want you to regret this."_

_She shook her head. "I won't if you don't."_

_In the seven weeks since prom, Dominic had kept his word. He had continued to show her with his actions that she could trust him. And two weeks ago, when he brought up the subject of sex, she had let him. It had been… awkward. And then he had asked if she wanted a tutorial. She had smacked him. He grabbed her, laughing, before she could storm off. He lay down on his bed, curling her up in his arms, stroking her hair, murmuring quiet reassurances in her ear, telling her that he would take care of her. She believed him. And it made her eyes burn and her stomach tighten._

_Now, underneath him, she felt safe. The nervousness that had been chasing after her, making her run from him since her eighteenth birthday, had completely dissipated. She ran her hands up the front of his shirt. "Dom, touch me, please", she pleaded hoarsely._

_He sat back on his knees as his hands slowly pushed her shirt up her ribcage, the flannel of her pajama pants brushing against his jeans. He leaned down and littered light kisses across her stomach making her laugh under him. He pulled her up slightly, tugging her shirt over her head and kissed her collarbone before taking one of her nipples into his mouth. She arched up against him with a groan._

_Her hand found the back of his head, holding him in place as his fingers plucked at her other nipple playfully. She squirmed against him, rubbing her legs together restlessly, trying to get some sort of friction. She felt him chuckle against her and she went for the bottom of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head. She caught him before he went at her breasts again._

"_I said touch me, not torture me", she growled exasperatedly. "Can you- you're driving me crazy!"_

_He smirked and caught her lips between his, sliding a hand into her hair at the back of her head. He moved, kneeling between her legs, playing with the waistband of her pants. "You sure?" he asked again._

_She nodded, staring at him with hazy eyes. "I'm sure."_

_He moved to pull her pants off as she lifted her hips slightly and then pulled her legs inward to accommodate him. He nipped at her inner thigh, hand sliding over her dark blue panties to cup her briefly. She bucked against him, letting out a groan. The dampness of her arousal had started to soak through the thin fabric, and he eyed her as he hooked his finger under the elastic band. She shifted for him again and he discarded the material to the floor._

"_I may be a virgin, but I'm fairly certain this will be difficult if you keep your pants on", she chuckled breathlessly, nudging his side with her knee._

"_You learn that in sex ed?" he smirked down at her._

"_It's not really fair that I'm naked and you're not", she managed with as much dignity as she could muster at the moment while his hands stroked rhythmically over her thighs._

_He chuckled. "Letty, if you're not ready- your first time is probably going to hurt regardless. Let me do this slow, alright?"_

_She grumbled under her breath, and he tried not to laugh. Her sexual frustration had reached an entirely new level. "Condom?" she questioned quietly. He rolled his eyes and nodded. She raised an eyebrow. "Did you plan this?" she asked suddenly._

"_I told you we wouldn't do this until you said yes", he reminded seriously. "I didn't want you to think I went into this half-assed or just for a fuck. Did I assume we'd do this tonight? No. But I'm a guy. I keep condoms in my wallet."_

_Letty snorted. "'Always be prepared', huh?" she teased finally._

"_Something like that", he said, mouth twitching. "Alright?"_

_She nodded. "But seriously, Dom… take your pants off."_

_He was gentle when he finally pressed into her. His hands kept her hips firmly immobile on the mattress even as he felt her nails digging into his shoulders. She was slick with her own wetness mixed with artificial lubrication, and still tight as hell. The inner, nervous flutterings of her walls around him were thoroughly distracting, and he stopped when he encountered her hymen, catching her gaze again._

"_You need to relax, okay?" he said roughly._

_She took a breath underneath him and nodded. "Just do it."_

_He pulled back slightly before thrusting past her barrier. Her muscles clenched around him, and his hands loosened from their iron grip on her hips. Her breathing was shaky, and he kissed the side of her mouth gently. Dominic watched as her eyes opened and she looked up at him again. He brushed a few stray hairs back and growled when he felt her tighten around him. "Letty-"_

"_Make love to me, Dom", she murmured._

0

He crawled over her on the bed, mouth attaching to hers with a ferocity that equaled in pain and a large amount of relief. His hands tangled in her hair behind her head, holding her in place. Her hands gripped his shoulders and then slid down over his chest, letting a groan vibrate through his mouth.

Letty groaned when she felt his cock pressed against her thigh. "Is that all for me?" she growled playfully.

"You gonna let me wear you out?" he raised an eyebrow.

She chuckled. "Are you making a wager?"

He nipped at her breast. "Don't play. I won last time."

She snorted, frowning. "What the fuck you talking about, 'you won'? My ass you won-" she slapped his chest for laughing.

"That's exactly what I won!" he chuckled.

"You gonna talk smack or are you gonna make love to me?" she raised her eyebrows, trying to stifle the girlish giggle rising in her throat.

"_Talking smack_- oh, you are such a bitch", he laughed, hooking an arm under her left thigh and tugging her further under him. He slid into her roughly, watching as her eyes scrunched shut, and then hissed as her fingernails raked over his chest. Her hands grappled before they curled around his biceps.

"_Christ-_"

"You can just call me, Dom", he growled playfully against her neck, thrusting into her at a steady pace.

Her hips matched his and she let out a hoarse whimper as he slammed into her, hands pressed into the mattress on either side of her head. She squeezed her muscles around him, making him groan. She laughed throatily, "Cocky bastard."

He retracted and thrusted into her forcefully, making her lose her breath. He grinned as her eyes rolled back. She moved her legs, crossing them behind his back, demanding short, deep thrusts that she matched. She was nearing release when he forced her legs off of him, pulling out of her completely. Her moan of complaint was met with a laugh before he flipped her over and pulled her to her knees. He pinned her hand to the wall above the headboard and penetrated her again.

A few short minutes later, she came harshly, nearly howling with pleasure. The force of her internal muscle spasms forced him to follow, his body nearly collapsing against hers. The weight of him pressed her against the headboard, not that she really noticed. But finally he pulled out of her and dragged them both to lie across the bed to catch their breath, her back against his chest.

Her eyes fluttered closed as his hand brushed over her midsection gently, just a ghost of a touch that had her relaxing further into his side. "Damn", she murmured, "I needed that."

He kissed her shoulder. "I missed hearing you scream", he said playfully.

"This doesn't feel real", Letty said quietly. "I never thought I'd get to be with you again."

"I know", he said, turning serious. "We got really damn lucky."

"_You_ got really damn lucky", she teased.

He swatted her bare ass and she yelped. "Bitch", he rumbled.

She snickered. "So… you're gonna take me on that honeymoon now, right?"

"Still think Rio is gonna be nice this time of year?" he muttered sleepily into her hair.

"It would have been if you guys hadn't tore it all to hell", Letty smacked back archly. "Dumbass. You can't just go somewhere and chill out, can you?"

"Hey, I didn't start that shit", he complained.

"No, but you couldn't help yourself from finishing it", she glared up at him.

"By the time it got that far, those sons of bitches were asking for it", he growled.

"Shit happens, Dom", she said quietly, nuzzling his chest. "Let's just try to keep what we have this time."

"I'm down with that", he rumbled lazily.

"Starting with me", she said seriously. "You gotta stop pushing me away, Dom. I'm not a kid anymore. I can tie my own shoes and everything", Letty rolled her eyes. "I'm an adult, and the things that affect both of us, we need to decide together. You've always protected me, and I love you for that, but if you ever leave me like that again just to keep me safe, I _swear_, you'll never hear from me again. Things have to be different. I trust you with my life, but I need you to trust me too – or this will never work."

That woke him up. He sat abruptly, taking her with him, body rigid with tension. "Letty, I trust you-"

"Don't", she said sharply. "Don't fucking lie to my face Dominic. I know you better than that. If you trust me, you need to start acting like it. End of story." She laid back down pointedly, her back to him.

"Let, come on."

She glared over her shoulder at him before speaking slowly. "It is way too late for this bullshit tonight, Dom. Lie down and go to sleep."

He snorted. "Whatever you say, mom", he said sarcastically, shuffling back down on the bed.

"Bite me."

He grinned at her back. "Love you too, princess."

She groaned sleepily as he tucked her under his arm, "Shithead."

00

Letty woke fairly early the next morning and fumbled for her buzzing phone before it woke up Dom. She hit the talk button as she tripped over his pants that had landed on the floor the night before. "Gah, what?" she growled aggravatedly into the phone.

She heard a deep, amused chuckle. "Doin' the walk of shame, Let?"

She groaned. "Hold on", she hissed. She set the phone on the end of the bed and pulled on one of Dominic's t-shirts and a pair of her own spandex shorts. She tugged her messy hair back into a ponytail and picked the phone back up. "Why are you calling me at this ungodly hour in the morning", she complained as she left the bedroom and headed downstairs. It wasn't even six yet. "Wait, don't tell me. You never went to bed last night", she said flatly.

"Did _you_ go to bed last night?"

She snorted. "Sure did, but I didn't get much sleep."

"So you found Dom then?"

"I did. I don't know what's going to happen between us, but damn am I sore", she chuckled.

He groaned. "Come on, Let, you're practically my sister, dammit. I don't need to hear that."

"That's not what you said when you ran past me buck naked when Vince dared you to go streaking around the block", she snorted. "I believe it was something more like 'admire my ass and see what you've been missing'. But I'm paraphrasing, of course", she teased.

"So… you rat me out yet?"

She chuckled."Yes", she admitted somewhat guiltily. "He was going all interrogator on me. I deflected."

"_Letty_", Leon whined, "Traitor."

"He wants to talk to you", she said seriously. "I don't think that's a bad idea."

"Let-"

"I mean it. Have I ever steered you wrong?"

"Jennifer Sanders", he muttered bitterly.

Letty burst out laughing. "I apologized for that", she reminded.

"Christ, woman, like I would go near your box of tampons with a ten-foot pole, much less hide them all over the house", he grumbled. "It took me two months to get rid of that girl."

"If you can get away for a week… I think you should come visit", she said seriously. "But do me a favor and call later this afternoon after you get some sleep. You should talk to Dom first."

"Alright", he said finally. "I'll call you back later. But I'm not making any promises after that."

0

A/N: Yipes! This took longer than planned. I apologize. Real life got in the way, and I wasn't quite sure which direction to take this chapter. But I found my missing plot bunnies, and I think my updates will go back to normal, once or twice a week. Thank you, STR8BKCHICK for your idea. Sorry it took so long. Let me know about any serious errors. It's late, but I wanted to post already, lol. 


	10. Chapter 10

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

_**Chapter 10**_

_Letty blinked awake sleepily, turning her face away from the sunlight filtering in through the window. She froze, and then popped her head up to look behind her. Dom. It was morning. __**Shit**__. She glanced at her alarm clock. 7:42 am. Her mother got home from working third shift at five thirty. Her hand curled around Dom's arm that was slung over her waist, and she squeezed it gently. "Dom", she murmured softly._

_He growled sleepily and pulled her closer, peeking an eye open at her, "Morning."_

_She chuckled under her breath. "Morning. Sorry, I had to wake you up, but I needed someone to panic with me."_

_He raised an eyebrow. "About what?"_

"_My mother should have gotten home two hours ago", she hissed. "We didn't lock the door last night."_

_He grinned. "You think she came in to check on you?"_

"_If she had, we'd both be dead in our sleep", she muttered darkly. "My ma would flip, Dom, and you know it."_

"_You're eighteen, Let. She can't ground you", he snorted._

"_No, but I'd really rather she didn't catch me naked in bed with some guy", she whined._

"_**Some guy?**__" he demanded playfully, rolling her over and dragging her on top of him. "I'm just 'some guy'? Nice to know, Letty." His fingers trailed over her sides, and she choked on a laugh before batting his hands away._

"_I didn't mean it like that!" she insisted. "And stop it. Before my mom really comes to check on me", she grinned._

"_Maybe you should go lock the door", he suggested._

_She shot him a look. "Maybe __**you **__should go lock the door", she replied archly._

_His hand caressed her lower back. "Sore?" he questioned quietly._

"_Yes, and we both know you just want to watch my naked ass", she laughed._

"_Fine", he grumbled, pushing her off him gently and getting up. "I'll go lock the door." She laughed and rolled to her stomach, burying her face in her pillow. He crawled back in bed, settling over her, his knees pressed into her hips. He leaned down to kiss her shoulder, hands stroking down her back. "Want me to give you a massage?"_

_She just nodded wordlessly, humming appreciatively as his thumbs pressed into her shoulder blades. Letty felt boneless by the time he was done. He leaned over and kissed her temple. "I need a shower", she murmured pointedly._

_He chuckled and scooped her off the bed, heading for the bathroom with her giggling against his neck. Dominic set her down and let her fiddle with the shower, eyeing her rear as she bent over the side of the tub. Water pounded out of the showerhead and she tossed him a saucy look over her shoulder as she stepped behind the curtain. "Come on."_

_He pushed the bathroom door closed and followed her into the shower, pulling her against his chest as she tilted her head back into the water. He stepped under the spray with her and pushed her against the tiles, nuzzling his face into her neck. He caught her hands before she got a hold of him and kissed his way down her flat stomach. Her eyes shot open wider as he curled his arm around her left leg and lifted it over his shoulder._

_Letty gasped as his mouth settled over her center, and then whimpered when he pressed his tongue inside. She had nothing to hold onto, and trusted him to keep her upright as her hands shot to her breasts. She bit back a yelp as Dominic growled against her, and she looked down to find him watching her as his mouth continued to pull wicked things from her body._

_He worked her gently, but intently, until she came undone in his arms, nearly going limp. He held her firmly to his body until she got her feet back underneath her, and used his hands to wash her gently before scrubbing himself off as well and grabbed them both towels as they got out of the shower._

_Dominic dried off swiftly and pulled his clothes on from the night before and then sat on her bed watching as she stood in front of her closet wrapped in a blue towel looking for something to wear._

"_Letty."_

_She turned her head. "What?"_

_He grinned and shook his head as he stood up and headed in her direction. "I gotta go back to my house and get clean clothes. Find something to wear. I'll be back in twenty minutes. We'll go get breakfast."_

"_You're not gonna get all clingy now, are you?" she teased, tilting her chin up as he got in her space. His hand slipped up her towel and grabbed at her playfully, and she smacked at his wandering hands. "I'm good with breakfast", she nodded finally._

"_Fuck, I have to climb out your window, don't I?" he complained._

_She bit her lip, trying to hide a smile. "Unless you want to chance a 'morning after' conversation with my ma…"_

"_Would she believe we didn't do anything?" he suggested weakly._

_Letty scoffed, "Yeah, right. She knows I've loved you for a long time, Dom. And according to her, I have no impulse control… so she might assume I tied you to the bed and had my way with you."_

_He blinked. "Oh-kay, then."_

_Then she did laugh. "If I remember correctly, she threatened you already. I think she'll be fine as long as she doesn't catch us in bed. Your dad may be another story though. Go on. We both need to get ready for breakfast. I'm hungry."_

_He eyed her again. "So am I-"_

"_Dominic!" she laughed. "Get out!"_

00

Letty crawled in bed again after getting off the phone with Leon and stripping out of her clothes again. Dominic was still asleep, now on his stomach, facing away from her. She eyed the muscles in his back, hungrily, suddenly wide awake. She had never been able to get enough of him from their first night together. He was like a juicy steak she _really_ wanted to chew on. She moved carefully back under the covers with him and crawled half on top of him, her hands gripping his shoulders lightly as her breasts pressed against his back. Letty leaned over further and nipped on his left earlobe gently – the one that wasn't buried in the pillow.

She heard the low rumble in his chest that precluded his consciousness. Her mouth travelled across his shoulders, her tongue peeking between her teeth to taste his skin. Letty swung her left leg over him and settled astride his hips, not at all uncomfortable with their nudity. She leaned forward and her tongue made its way down his spine.

"Letty?" Dominic growled sleepily.

She chuckled low in her throat, "Hmm?"

"Enjoying yourself?" he teased.

"Yeah, I am, papa. Got a problem with that?"

"No, I just didn't realize I was gonna be your dessert _and_ breakfast", he laughed.

"I'm hungry", she purred. "Besides, we have a lot of sex to catch up on."

He twisted until he got an arm around her waist, and then rolled so she landed underneath him. His mouth caught hers and then trailed over her jaw and down her neck. "Waking up with you is much better than a damned alarm clock", he chuckled.

"You slept hard", she said quietly, reaching out to thumb the lines between his eyebrows.

"Yeah, well, it's been difficult trying to sleep without you kneeing me in the ribs every night", he teased, his hand finding the spot just above her knee and squeezing it, making her squeal and jerk away.

"Asshole", she laughed. "_You_ snore louder than a jackhammer."

He bent his head down and tugged on her nipple playfully with his lips, making her groan. "Do you want real breakfast?" he asked, almost seriously.

"Later", she panted. "Unless you're opposed to morning sex all the sudden, or that's a banana in bed with us, I really want you inside me right now." Letty shifted her legs, letting him settle against her. Seconds later, when he slid inside her, she let out a string of curses that might have offended a sailor.

Twenty minutes later, she was pressed against his side again, eyes closed as his hand played in her hair. "How long are you planning to stay here, Letty?" he asked quietly.

She sighed. "I want what you want, Dom. I want this to work. We've got a lot of shit to work through, but… I adore you, ya know. I always have. And right now that kind of takes away half the stupidity I think you're responsible for. I don't want to beat a dead horse. We can't do it all at once, but I think we both need to agree that once we settle something, we don't bring it up again."

He was staring down at her almost incredulously. "What did I do to deserve you?"

She snorted. "Maybe you did a few extra 'hail Mary's' and I was the bonus-"

"Oh, I'll give you a 'hail Mary'", he growled teasingly, mauling her again.

Her laughter travelled through the house.

0

After breakfast, they all went down to the beach and played in the surf with Marisa. Watching Dominic play with his niece pulled on Letty's heart strings like not much else ever had. She watched as he held the girl by her hands and dangled her feet just above the splashing waves making her shriek with laughter. As tan as the girl was, Mia had doused her in sunscreen before they had come out, and Brian had been no help whatsoever. Marisa had not been happy, and Brian had just tried to hold onto her while trying not to laugh.

Letty watched from her towel on the sand as Brian and Dom put Marisa in a blow-up pool toy boat that was too big for her. They had tossed a few handfuls of water in it for her to splash in as they dragged her around in the small waves.

Mia walked up the beach and dried herself off as she settled next to Letty in the sand. "He's so good with her", Mia said fondly. "My brother would make a great father."

Letty shot her a look. "Mia… it's a little too soon to be jumping into _that_ just yet, alright?"

"You _do_ plan to stay, don't you, Letty?" Mia asked seriously.

"I- I almost feel like I can't make any plans for the future with him right now", she admitted softly. "I want to. So badly, Mia, I really do. But I couldn't handle it if he disappeared again."

"Letty, I love you. But sometimes I think you're an idiot", Mia chuckled. "Dom's not going anywhere, Let. I get that it might take a while for him to earn your trust back, but you need to learn how to believe in him again too. There was – and still _is_ – a lot of hurt between you two. You've always been good at fighting. Now you have something to fight for together. Make it work. I know you both love each other enough. Come on", Mia invited, standing up. "Quit sitting over here brooding and come play with us."

Letty snorted. "Mia-"

Mia kicked some sand at her leg. "It doesn't have to be perfect for it to work", she said seriously. "Come be a part of the family."

Letty laughed under her breath and got up to follow her. "Whatever you say, Mrs. Fairytale", she teased.

Mia let out a musical laugh and shoulder-bumped her playfully, "Maybe if our lives were written by the Grimm brothers."

0

Marisa finally went down for a nap just before two, completely exhausted, and Letty leaned against the doorframe watching her niece silently as Mia straightened up a few things. "Geez", Letty muttered, stifling a yawn. "I'm tempted to crawl in there with her."

Mia snorted. "She'd kick you out. She's very emphatic about her personal space."

Before Letty could make a joke, a set of keys were dangled in front of her face. "How about you skip the nap and come take a drive with me instead", Dominic offered quietly.

Letty leaned her head back against his shoulder. _He_ was very much in _her_ personal space. She had felt his body heat before she saw the keys. "Yeah, alright. With the way you drive, it'd be like drinking a cup of java", she teased lightly.

"Mia, we won't be gone too long", he said keeping his voice low. "I'll do dinner tonight."

Mia looked up and smiled. "Thanks, Dom. Go on. Behave you two."

Letty snorted and rolled her eyes and glanced at Dominic who looked thoroughly amused. She followed him through the house and out to the large carport. She stared at the cars almost wistfully. She sighed and met his eyes. "I miss the Nissan", she muttered.

He smiled slightly. "We can build you a new car, Let."

"Not the same", she shook her head ruefully. "I like the Challenger", Letty said, nodding appreciatively.

"Wanna drive?"

She arched her eyebrows. "Really?"

He tossed her the keys. "Get in."

0

She followed his directions until they got to another spot on the island full of trees. She got out of the car and looked around curiously. "Why do I feel like I'm on the set of _Land of the Lost_?"

Dominic snorted, walking around the car to lean on the back bumper next to her. "Kinda cool, isn't it?"

"As long as a dinosaur doesn't pop out and try to chomp on my ass", she muttered.

"Oh, please, baby. Like I'd let anybody but me get that close to your ass", he laughed.

She punched his chest. "Moron." He caught her wrist before she pulled back and kissed her knuckles. She smiled wryly, shifting uncomfortably. "Why does this feel like we're starting over?" she complained.

"We are- sort of. Except maybe this time, you'll be a little less difficult about it", he rolled his eyes.

She chuckled. "Don't hold your breath." Then she looked up at him seriously. "I'm gonna try, Dom. I want you to know that. Sex doesn't fix everything – no matter how good it is." Letty snickered. "Although you do get extra points for that."

He nodded thoughtfully, trying not to grin. Letty never let his head get too big, but she was good for an ego boost when he needed it. "Tell me about Leon", he said after a minute.

She blinked. "Oh, right- he called me this morning, before I woke you up. He's gonna call back later this afternoon. I figured I give him until four. He was just going to bed when he called", she chuckled, shaking her head. "His internal clock is all outta wack."

"What's he doin' now?"

"Car painting jobs", she smiled fondly. "And he taught me to windsurf – which was really awesome."

"_You?_" Dom looked down at her incredulously.

"You'd probably love it", she grinned. "It's a whole different kind of rush."

"What were you doing in the Bahamas, Let?"

She laughed. "_God_- I left the U.S. in a hurry… that was the only plane leaving the country that was going anywhere warm. It was the fate of the car gods, man."

"How'd you find Leon?"

Letty settled back on the car, leaning her back against the window and waited until he relaxed next to her. Her mind drifted back and she started telling part of her tale.

0

_Letty found a small hotel on the beach and went up to her room to shower and change. She thought about taking a nap once she was done, but the sun called to her. So she pulled on a white t-shirt and pair of jean cut-offs over her black bikini and stuffed her essentials in a small bag, including one of the hotel towels, sunglasses on her head, and headed for the elevator._

_It took her a while to find a good spot to settle down, but when she did, she immediately relaxed, knowing that, at least for now, she was safe. She heard shouting, hoots and hollering from the water. Letty sat up and squinted into the sunshine from behind her sunglasses. She could barely make out the group of people on the speedboat that was moving in closer, heading for the docks. As it grew nearer, she could make out people more clearly, and she saw something familiar. __**A tattoo**__. She stared. Leon. He was tanner than she remembered, but it was him._

_She stood up, grabbing her things quickly, and headed toward the docks on her left, keeping an eye on the boat and Leon. As she got closer, she saw him get off the boat and start putting safety equipment in a plastic container. Letty wanted to call to him, but she wasn't sure if he was using his real name or not, so she waited. Then someone else called his name, and he responded._

_He was only two hundred feet away from her. Letty figured it was best to give him a bit of warning. "Leon!"_

_He looked up, searching for the person who called his name. She didn't move. His eyes finally landed on her, and he stared at her like she was a ghost. She walked in his direction slowly._

"_Letty! Holy shit!" he met her halfway and picked her up in a fierce hug._

_She chuckled. "Damn, dawg. Put me down."_

_He looked around curiously once he set her down. "Where's Dom?" he asked quietly._

_She snorted. "Hell if I know", she muttered._

_Leon gave her a hard look that nearly made her flinch. "He left you?"_

_She shook her head and groaned. "Yes- no… it's more complicated than that. Can we go somewhere and talk?"_

"_How long have you been here?"_

"_I just got here today actually", she smirked._

_He raised his eyebrows. "Where are you staying?"_

_She turned and pointed to the hotel. "I got a room."_

_He rolled his eyes. "Dumbass. You can come stay at my place. There's an extra room."_

_She punched his arm. "Who're you calling a dumbass? Dumbass. Like I knew you were here."_

_He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they headed up the beach. "You look like shit, Let. Seriously."_

"_Is that how you catch the ladies?" she teased. "Thanks so much for the compliment."_

"_You look like you've been to hell and back, girl."_

"_Yeah, that sounds about right. Feed me, and I'll tell you everything."_

"_You got it."_

0

_**A/N:**_** Posted and with more smut! Yay me! Read and review!**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

_**Chapter 11**_

_It didn't take long for them to fall into a routine. Letty grumbled about Dom's snoring, and Dominic griped about waking up every morning with her curled into the fetal position with her knees jammed into his ribs. Letty's mother had already spoken her peace, but told Dom to make sure he didn't hurt her daughter or she'd tear his balls off with a pair of pliers._

_Tony, on the other hand, wasn't entirely convinced it was a good idea. But he warmed up to the idea after a few months and gave his blessing._

_But just over seven months after Letty and Dom got together that things started going downhill. They just didn't realize that it was the beginning of a trifecta of tragedy that would lead them to all make life changing decisions._

_Dominic and Vince were driving home from the store just before dinner time that Thursday afternoon when Dom caught sight of blue and red lights flashing right down the street and he slowed the car down at the end of their driveway. He swore. "That's Letty's house."_

_His car roared into the driveway, and he was out of the car before he even turned off the engine, leaving the task to Vince, who followed almost as quickly. By the time Vince walked through the front door, Dominic already was sitting on the landing of the stairs with a sobbing Letty in his lap. He crouched down in front of them, bypassing several cops who were filling out some paperwork._

"_What happened?" he demanded._

_Letty finally unburied her face from Dom's chest, tears still streaking down her face. "My mom's dead", she said hoarsely, sucking in a ragged breath. "They said someone rear ended her coming off the ramp on her way home. Her car went over the rail and flipped."_

"_Jesus- shit, Letty", Vince hissed._

"_V, go get my dad. Stay with Mia. We have to go ID the body", Dom said quietly, his face twisting into a grimace._

"_Yeah, man, I got it." He turned Letty's face toward him gently. "You come back with them to our place, alright? You're not staying here alone." He waited for her nod and left._

_0_

_The next few weeks were an emotional train wreck. They had to contact Letty's family in Puerto Rico about the funeral and take care of all the arrangements for the burial. It took a solid two weeks for things to calm down. Letty came into the garage to work her usual schedule, but spent the majority of her free time curled up on her mother's bed until Dominic came and dragged her to dinner every night._

_Unbeknownst to her, the rest of the people she considered to be family were making plans. Roughly six weeks after the funeral, she was man-handled into a family meeting. Two weeks after that, they all helped her start boxing up her house – her life – and she moved into the Toretto's guest bedroom while her house was put on the market._

00

She glared up at him angrily, desperately wanting to slug him. She hated him sometimes. Even when they were younger, he had always had ways of calling her on her shit that ate at her. He never tried to hurt her on purpose, but he wouldn't spare her feelings either. They were too close, and had known each other too long for any kind of pretense between them – especially when one of them wanted something.

She sucked in a deep breath and tried to focus on the bigger picture. He wanted commitment from her- _nope, she still wanted to slap him._ She had thought that was the point of them _getting married_. Maybe it wasn't really such a big deal… telling Mia, but it was more than that. He wanted to be sure she would stick around.

"Brian already knows", she finally said flatly.

"You told him?"

"I was mad at you", Letty rolled her eyes.

"Nice, Let", Dom muttered sarcastically.

"What? He was your golden boy. I thought he should have the facts." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm not even gonna start that fight", he raised an eyebrow. And then because he couldn't let it go, "What facts?"

"That as much as I love you, sometimes you're an unbelievable idiot", she smirked.

"Oh, and you're a regular Little Miss Sunshine", he drawled.

"No but I get points for the extra smarts", Letty grinned.

He laughed then and threw a large pillow at her. "You're such a bitch."

"Yeah, whatever", she purred lazily, flopping onto the bed.

Dom grabbed the pillow from the floor and stretched out next to her. Finally, he nudged her side with his elbow. "So, what do you have against telling Mia?" he asked quietly.

She sighed. "Truth?"

"Of course."

"I really hate this part of me that wants to pull away because it hurt so much when I woke up and you were gone. But that's not love or trust, and I'm not a coward… and it's something we both need to work on. I'm accountable for my own actions that led me here, just as you are yours. I made my own decisions, Dominic, and you don't need to carry the weight of that. I just don't know how to make you aware of how badly you hurt me without hurting you just as much, and I don't want that."

"Let, how often have you really ever spared my feelings?" he raised an eyebrow.

She winced. "During what time frame?" Letty finally muttered.

He sat up and stared down at her incredulously. "Letty-"

"Before or after Baja?" she clarified quietly.

"Are you saying you were still holding back when we were doing all that yelling?" he asked, eyeing her seriously.

"I'm saying- dammit, I don't know. After my mom died… I was angry for a long time. And in the middle of all that, there was your dad's accident, and then Lompoc. I spiraled, Dom. I never blamed you for what happened to Linder because I had that same rage when my mom was killed. It nearly suffocated me. After you were gone… I had no one. Mia had her own grief to deal with, and Vince could only do so much for me then. I think I drank 'til I passed out every night for the first month you were in prison. And every morning I woke up in your bed because he carried me upstairs. If Leon and Jesse hadn't shown up when they did, I don't know what would have happened."

"I'm sorry about that", he said quietly. "With all the shit going on… I forgot you were grieving too." He tugged her over to curl up in his lap.

Letty didn't say anything, just twisted her neck to kiss his jaw and settled her head back against his shoulder. They laid there silently for long enough that Dom was sure she fell asleep. Finally he heard her muffled voice. "We can tell Mia, Dom."

00

It was early afternoon when the calm took another turn.

"So, you're his Letty."

Letty turned from the sink at the lilting voice. "So, you're the woman who has been sleeping with my husband", she replied. Her tone wasn't heated, but her guard was up. "Elena." The name rolled off her tongue more easily, and with less resentment, than she had thought it would.

The woman nodded once. "Can we talk?"

Letty's eyebrows shot up. "You came here to see me." She shook her head incredulously. "If this was five years ago… you would not still be standing in front of me. You would be on the ground. But things change. One thing hasn't though. My possessive streak is still miles long." Then she walked to the fridge and pulled out two bottles and gestured to the kitchen table. "Have a seat."

Elena took a chair against the wall and the offered beer. She would have preferred a shot, but it would do. The dark haired woman sat across from her, leaning back away from the table a bit, with one leg crossed over the other as she ran her fingers over the bottle's label.

Letty eyed her curiously and shook her head, letting out a wry laugh. "So weird", she murmured.

"It is", Elena said quietly. "But curiosity got the best of me."

"And?" Letty questioned seriously. "How do I measure up?"

"You haven't taken a swing at me yet, so you've earned a few brownie points, I suppose", Elena murmured thoughtfully.

Letty almost smiled. "I don't think I'm going to hit you. I thought about it before, but in the grand scheme of things, that wouldn't solve anything, and Dom would be pissed. And I don't think I need to get arrested for 'assaulting an officer of the law'. Now there's some fuckin' irony right there."

"Dom is a good man, and I care about him. I want him to be happy, and I am certain that without you, a very large part of him is blocked off from that emotion."

"He's been in my life since I was just a little girl… he's taken care of me most of my life. Dynamics change, and I've been taking care of myself for a long time. We are very different people than we used to be, but I still love him – more than he knows", Letty trailed off absently.

"I understand what he sees in you. You are an extraordinary woman, and he knows that. Even though he might not give you enough credit in that area", Elena said carefully.

Letty snorted. "Yeah, well, I would lean a little more towards 'pain in his ass', but- thank you. For being there", she said seriously. "I saw the news feed of what happened in Rio… and if that was any indication as to what happened after- I know how dangerous the downward spiral can be. If he hadn't had someone, right now, he would not still be the man I fell in love with. And that's my fault. If I could have done something differently, I would have. It wasn't my choice – to 'die'. But it was either that or risk losing everything. I chose the lesser of two evils. Whatever transpired after that- the guilt is on my head, and I don't take that lightly."

"You should say that to him", Elena raised an eyebrow. If she were Mia, she would follow her assessment with, 'duh'.

Letty smirked. "Dominic and I never were very good at talking things out."

"Want a mediator?" Elena offered, mouth twitching.

"Neutral party?" Letty chuckled. "Yeah, right."

"He wasn't trying to replace you- not even really trying to forget… just trying to deal with it, I think", Elena lilted quietly. "I know what it's like to lose someone that you love very deeply. If my husband was somehow alive, I would go back to him in a heartbeat. There are many different kinds of love. You just have to decide what you're going to fight for. His heart still belongs to you. I've got no right to get in the way of that, and I won't. I just thought you should hear it from me." And then she left.

Letty sighed, emotionally drained. Then she heard shouting outside. She groaned. "_Great_", she muttered standing and walking out to the porch. She snorted when she got to the glass door. She was going to have fun with this one. Letty let the door slam as she walked out and leaned against a pillar. "Dom, were we this obnoxious when we were fighting?" she called.

He whirled and swore. She raised both eyebrows, waiting. Elena had a smirk twitching at the corner of her mouth at the scene. She _had_ been trying to explain to him what she had been doing here.

"Letty-" he cut himself off abruptly.

"How 'bout you stop growling like a bear", she said seriously, tone indicating that it was _not_ a suggestion.

He blinked. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me. You want to start a rumble over all this? Because I'd really rather not", she said flatly.

"A rumble- what'd you do? Join Benny and the Jets?" Dom snorted.

"Just don't call me Maria", Letty rolled her eyes.

"You're fighting over _West Side Story_?" Elena asked incredulously.

"Oh, you'll find out sooner or later, we can fight over anything", Letty chuckled.

Dominic scrubbed his hands over his face. "This _cannot_ be happening."

"So… the effort to encourage higher learning just gave you more creative ways to argue?" Elena smothered a grin. Letty buried her face in her hands and just giggled.

"_Okay_", Dominic groaned. "That's enough. Elena, go home please. Letty, go inside."

"Bossy", Letty said archly.

"Don't start", he warned darkly. "This is like a super fucked up slumber party."

"If you fall asleep first, I'm freezing your boxers", Letty teased. She took off around the porch as Dom charged at her, barely dodging Mia who had come to see what all the commotion was about.

"Dom, what's- Elena… oh, crap", she hissed.

Elena shook her head, smiling slightly. "I'm gonna head out. Mia, I'll call you later." And then she was gone.

0

Letty opened the patio's screen door and stepped onto the deck. "What're you doing out here?" she asked quietly. It was well after midnight.

Brian snorted. "I could ask you the same question."

"I asked you first", she chuckled, sending him a playful grin as she sat on the cushioned porch swing next to him as she passed him one of her bottles.

"Couldn't sleep", he shrugged. "My brain won't shut off."

"You think too much", she teased mildly.

"Why aren't you asleep?"

"I missed my window of silence", she admitted ruefully. "Dom's snoring loud enough to shake the windows."

Brian laughed under his breath. "Got something you need to tell me?" he asked softly.

She stared silently out towards the water. "I'm sorry. I would have called if I had the chance", she said quietly. "I wanted to. I didn't mean for everyone to think I got killed. But I knew I had to get away, and no offense, but I wasn't really trusting that the FBI guys were gone hold up their end of the bargain. I couldn't risk them trying to toss me back in, so I had to come up with a new plan."

"Same here", Brian grumbled. "But you were smarter than I was apparently."

"And that surprises you?" she laughed. "Mia's happy, Dom's happy – and alive, _and_ not in prison. Thank you for that."

"You okay with me being your brother-in-law?" he asked raising an eyebrow curiously.

Letty nodded. "You and I are fine, Brian. I never really had brothers, you know", she said thoughtfully. "Vince was always Dom's friend even though we were all close. Leon and Jesse were the closest things to brothers I had when they came along. I was almost nineteen by then. Leon watched out for me – when I let him."

"Stubborn", Brian smirked at her.

She elbowed him. "Takes one to know one, pal. I think the real question is: 'can you hand me being your sister-in-law'?"

He groaned playfully, and then turned serious. "I couldn't think of anyone better, Let."

"That's some hardcore truth right there. Someone's gotta keep your ass outta trouble."

"Speaking of trouble... When are you and Dom gonna get busy and give Mia and I some nieces and nephews- ow!" he yelped when she punched his arm.

"Oh, this conversation reeks of Mia", she scowled. "Let us get used to know each other again first", she sighed.

"Fine, fine", he shrugged easily, waiving her off. "On a better note... We need to get you some wheels", he grinned at her. "We've all got shiny new toys. I think if anyone deserves it, you do."

"How much money did you guys take? The news wouldn't tell how much money Reyes squandered from the city."

"Eleven million, each."

Her jaw dropped. "Holy mother- I can't believe Dominic didn't tell me that! I'm gonna kick his ass."

"Make him buy you a car instead", Brian suggested easily. "We'll get online tomorrow and start shopping."

"Whatever it is... I'm painting it candy apple red", she murmured, tilting her head back thoughtfully.

Brian raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"It's just the color I'm currently in the mood for."

"If you say so", he muttered. "_Flashy._ Let-"

"Elena, Brian?" she finally prompted.

He shrugged. "We thought you were six feet under. We just wanted Dom to move on."

She nodded. "It's okay. I get it. I just needed to ask. If something happens- I don't want him to be alone for the rest of his life."

00

_**A/N:**_** Well… this was an odd chapter, lol. Hope you enjoyed. Reviews make me write faster. *winkwink***


	12. Chapter 12

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

_**A/N: **__**Serious spoilers for Fast Five. **__** Oh, my god… this chapter was nightmare-ish to put together. I'm just sayin'. No past flashbacks in this chapter. They're all from the latest movie. I'll go back to my normal timeline in the next chapter.**_

_**Chapter 12**_

When everyone finally sat down at the breakfast table, and was more or less awake, Dom cleared his throat. Letty studiously ignored him, poking through her bowl of mixed fruit looking less than thrilled. Someone kicked her under the table and her head shot up to find Brian grinning at her.

"Man, I'm gonna hurt you", she warned mildly.

"What? You're gonna throw a grape at me?" Brian snorted. "_Scary._"

"Are you two gonna do this every morning?" Dom raised his eyebrows. "I can make you both eat outside."

Mia hid her grin as she fed Marisa a spoonful of applesauce.

"He kicked me", Letty grumbled.

"You were brooding", Brian pointed out.

"Was not-"

"Letty and I are married!"

Dom's voice rose over the playful bickering.

Mia blinked, stunned as the words registered. "_**What?**__"_

Brian just burst out laughing. _What a way to make an announcement._

Letty slumped further down in her chair and groaned, hands covering her face.

0

Brian was putting away the spoils from his Mia-mandated shopping trip for the celebratory dinner tonight when Dom came in to grab a beer.

"Why'd you do it?"

"Do what? Buy the big tub of Neapolitan?" Brian chuckled. "Thought I might actually get some before Mia eats all the strawberry this time."

Dom growled. "That's not what I meant."

Brian shrugged. "I'm not going anywhere. What does it matter now? We're not looking over our shoulders. Mia and I have Marisa… you have Letty back. Why ask now? Seems like it would have been an appropriate question before."

"Before when?" Dom smirked slightly. "Between bullets and car chases?"

"Yeah, that would have made it interesting", Brian grinned teasingly.

"Smartass. You didn't have to choose this life, Brian."

Brian snorted, half irritated. "If I hadn't? You wouldn't have had any choice at all. You'd be serving a life sentence in prison. Letty might _really_ have ended up attending her own funeral – not that I'm taking credit for that – and Mia would be living in that big house _alone._ The life I used to have… I had nothing to lose. And I'm pretty sure _you'd_ disagree, but becoming a cop in the first place was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done."

Dom snorted. "You did kind of suck at arresting people."

"You're not exactly a stellar bad guy, either, Mr. 'I charm police officers and FBI agents'", Brian raised an eyebrow kind of ironically. "You do know you guys weren't my first undercover job, right?"

"Second", Dom chuckled. "The first one wasn't a big deal."

"Mia?" Brian rolled his eyes.

"Yup."

Brian made a face. "I was good at my job, Dom, but I never expected to end up in the middle of your case again. And I was still in the dog house from before. Even after the shit in Miami and the Juarez case- If Letty hadn't come to me first… I probably wouldn't have even heard about anything that happened after she cut that deal. She would have been dog meat from the get-go. Like I told Mia, I'm good at feeding people bullshit. "

"No, you're not", Dom snorted. "But you sure make people want to believe it."

"You're not gonna try and kick my ass again, are you?" Brian chuckled.

"_Try-_ nah, we're even, O'Connor", Dom shook his head in amusement.

"'Bout damn time", Brian grumbled. His _brother-in-law_ might finally stop trying to give him heart attacks. _Thank god Letty was back._

0

'_**It was always the plan... Take care of Mia.'**_

_The words reverberated in his mind, and Brian scowled irritatedly as he turned his car into a tight one-eighty. Then he heard Mia's voice over the walkie talkie._

"_Brian! What the hell's going on? Answer me, dammit!"_

_He grabbed the device and hit the button. "Mia! Mia, I'm going to get him. I'm not leaving him here", he said tensely. He saw the cars piling up about a mile down the bridge and strung together a mass of curse words that made Mia speechless for half a second._

"_Be careful", she ordered quietly. "I love you."_

"_I love you too. Mia… if you don't hear from me in twenty, pack up and get the hell out of here."_

"_Why the hell are all the men in my life idiots?" she muttered._

_Brian grinned briefly. "See you soon." Then he tossed the walkie talkie back into the console and sped down the highway again. "Damn, Dom", he grumbled. "You sure know how to throw a party."_

_0_

_Some major destruction, a few bullet shots, and a promise of a twenty-four hour reprieve had Brian burning rubber away from Hobbs – hopefully before he realized they had switched out the safe for an empty duplicate. Brian reached for the walkie talkie again. "Mia? Mia, we're on the way back."_

"_Oh, thank god", she sighed out a breath of relief. "Get your asses back here. We're waiting on you to open the safe. Han's calling the airlines for tickets. We'll all be out of Rio by midnight."_

_Brian smiled slightly. "Okay, Miss Travel Guide. Where are we going?"_

"_You know, I've always sort of wanted a beach house", she said thoughtfully._

"_Anywhere you want baby. I don't care where we end up as long as we're together. You pick; we'll be there. See you in twenty."_

_Five minutes of only the noise of the rumbling engine in the air Dom finally broke the silence. "So, where's Mia taking us?"_

"_I'd bet on Goa", Brian answered._

"_Alright, what's with the glaring? We're only a few hours from starting new lives and you look like someone ran over your dog."_

_Brian barely held back a derisive snort as he debated the pros and cons of venting until finally his anger won out. "God__**dammit**__, Dom! Don't __**ever**__ do that again", he snapped furiously._

"_Do what?" Dom questioned blithely._

"_Self-sacrificing bastard", Brian muttered under his breath. He wasn't sure if Dom needed a hug or a punch in the nose. "My kid might need a father, but it's also going to need an uncle. And if you think this family would do well without you, you're wrong. I can't watch you take another bullet. And I don't want to have to try to keep Mia together if something happened to you. We've lost a lot of family, Dom, but we've gained some too. So, don't __**do**__ that again!" Brian was glad he had the road to concentrate on so he didn't follow up that statement with any emphatic violence. And he __**knew**__ Dom wouldn't appreciate his 'stare and drive' abilities. The thought almost made him laugh, and he would have if he wasn't so irritated. "Fucking moron."_

"_I didn't realize you had such a bad temper", Dom said mildly, half amused._

"_Well, some asshole once told me that keeping my cool was my meal ticket", Brian grumbled half-heartedly. "If I wasn't driving, you wouldn't think this was funny."_

"_Ya know… most people's families just suck it up and do nothing when someone is sentenced to jail time. There aren't a whole hell of a lot of break-outs in the U.S.", Dom mused thoughtfully._

_Brian nearly smiled then. "Yeah, well, we're not exactly one of those families, are we? I think we're a little more proactive. After all, why wait for a prisoner to be released when you can keep them out in the first place?" he chuckled wryly._

"_Point taken. How long did it take to set all that up anyway?" Dom asked curiously._

"_Eh", Brian hedged briefly. "I started thinking while I was in the hospital for a week. Then they started taking my statement – which took for-fucking-__**ever**__ – and I started getting suspicious. Things went downhill… they were a little too __**grateful**__. When FBI agents start fawning, run for the hills", he snorted._

"_I'll remember that", Dom said wryly._

"_So, Mia and I started plotting. You know the rest", Brian shrugged as he pulled into the building they were hiding out in. "I think it went pretty well, don't you?"_

_Dom was laughing when he got out of the car._

_Brian had to sit there for a minute until he stopped grinding his teeth together. He __**definitely**__ needed to punch something. Then he sighed and followed the direction Dom had taken, trying to block out the graphic imagery of Dom's car being ripped off the pavement and Dom flying out of it only to stand there calmly less than a minute later to wait for a bullet._

_He headed for Mia who had pried herself off her brother. The fifteen minutes of worry had taken a toll. At least she hadn't seen it. She approached him then, tucking herself against his chest, clutching at him as his arms tightened around her and he buried his face against her neck._

_Brian heard the noises around them, signaling that things were about ready. She muttered something that sounded vaguely like a 'thank you' against his chest, and he shushed her. Because __**really**__? What else could he have done? He sure as shit __**couldn't**__ have watched Dom get gunned down after all that – after everything._

_Mia pulled away first, just slightly, and he loosened his grip enough to meet her gaze. Her worried expression matched his own. "It's gonna be okay, Mia. We'll find a way to fix it", he murmured reassuringly._

"_I hope so."_

_He squeezed her once more. "Sounds like they're geared up. Let's go see if this was worth it._

"_It would be our luck that the safe doesn't open", she grumbled. Pregnant and on the run… these were not her finest hours. Sue her for not being the eternally optimistic one._

_Brian groaned. "Hell- Mia, don't jinx us."_

_She smiled up at him easily, wrapping an arm behind his back. "C'mon."_

0

Brian and Dom were already well on the way to being buzzed on the back porch when they heard Letty's voice coming through one of the open windows upstairs.

"_Mia, you're my sister and I love you… but if you don't get that fucking eyelash curler away from me right now, I swear I'll bitch slap you!"_

Dom snorted. "That brings back memories", he chuckled. Then he backed up slightly, hands cupping his mouth as he shouted. "Play nice, ladies! Mia, quit trying to put Letty in a dress!"

"Thank you!" Letty shouted leaning out the window. She disappeared with a yelp as Mia dragged her back. "_Mia, I am __**not**__ a Barbie!"_

"_Letty-"_

Brian just relaxed back in his lounge chair with a grin on his face. "Mia made her buy a skirt", he offered conspiratorially. "One that's not leather", he clarified, rolling his eyes slightly.

Dominic snickered. "Good thing we've got lots of booze. She's gonna be pissy."

"I think that's probably more because Mia went all party-planner on your asses, rather than having to wear a skirt", Brian chuckled.

"It was a double-whammy", Dom grumbled half-heartedly. Letty had been the one doing the bitching. But Mia had tracked down their mother's recipe for red velvet cake, so he had no qualms about indulging his sister's want for celebration.

0

"God, Letty, could you act like a woman for ten minutes?" Mia scowled.

"_Mia_, I think Dom's seen me naked enough not to have gender questions", Letty crossed her arms over her chest. "Why are you making a big deal about this? The hugging and squealing would have sufficed. You weren't any less my sister before", she smiled slightly.

Mia just continued to glare. "Leticia Ortiz… Toretto? What the hell is your last name now, anyhow?" her anger was tinged with confusion.

Letty smothered a laugh. "Toretto", she shrugged. "Dom said I shouldn't – it would be safer not to – but I won that argument. I never changed my driver's license though."

Sparing a glance for her daughter in the playpen, Mia planted her hands on her hips with a frown of frustration on her face. "Letty… you and my brother got _married_. Not only wasn't I invited, but you didn't even bother to _inform_ me. I will have my party. And you're going to stop bitching about it. Capiche?"

Letty blinked. "Jesus, Mi. When'd you turn into such a hard ass?"

Mia shoved Letty back into her torture chair and started on her hair with the curling iron. "I dunno… probably sometime in between my family being completely disrupted, breaking Dom out of a jail bus, and going on the run."

Letty turned as Mia fluffed out one of her curls of hair. "I'm sorry, Mia. We should have taken better care of you."

Mia rolled her eyes. "Look, do I wish some things were different? Absolutely. But if things had played out differently, I probably wouldn't have Brian or Marisa. So I don't really have any hard regrets."

"You're lucky then", Letty murmured quietly. "I wish I could say the same. But enough of that. Finish me up. I want cake."

Mia nodded and continued her task silently. When they were both finished, before Mia went to get her daughter, she caught Letty by the arm. "We all have demons Letty. I've done some things I'm not entirely proud of – and highly illegal – in the name of family. But I don't regret it. Look around. _This,_ this here… we all needed to grow the hell up. Whatever it took to get us here, I'm grateful for it."

Letty eyed her seriously before offering one thing. "I escaped FBI custody and fled the country before they could put me in the Witness Protection Program until they wanted me to testify." She had barely avoided answering Mia's questions surrounding her alleged death, focusing on the places she had been since then. And the look of realization that swept over Mia's face had her dreading the response she'd get when she eventually would have to tell Dom.

0

Dinner was a lively affair. They spun tales and laughed until they felt sick. Along with the cake Mia finally brought out – and then had to smack Dom for poking at the frosting – she also brought a container of sugar-sweet cupcakes and gave one to Marisa to play with. Red velvet cake was _gold_.

And then, as she walked back around the table, she very nicely shoved one of the cupcakes in Letty's face. There was a moment of near silence before Letty very calmly got up from her chair and chased her down the steps and then tackled her into the sand.

"I don't want to know", Brian muttered decisively, taking a bite of cake.

Things finally calmed down, and Letty washed her face – and Mia rinsed away the frosting that had gotten in her hair, and they sat back down like nothing had happened. Dom rolled his eyes, but knew better than to ask.

They were just finished cleaning up the mess when Brian's cell phone rang.

00

"What's up, Brian?" Letty appeared behind him on the beach holding her own Corona.

"Nothin'. Just chillin'."

Letty raised her eyebrows; eyes narrowing in a way that could make even Dom cower. Brian winced. That 'don't bullshit me' look was distinctly Toretto. She had gotten it from Mia, and refined it to be quite threatening. "Wanna try that again?" she asked easily.

He waived her off absently. "Just had an irritating phone call."

"Brian, don't make me kick your ass", she sighed. "Me and Dom are working on our shit, don't you start gettin' out of sorts now too."

He flashed her a grin, and then it faded and he nodded. "Mia or Dom tell you about my buddy Rome?"

Her head tilted. "Mia, yes… Dom, no. Why? Mia said he was…"

"Crazy?" Brian chuckled slightly.

"Something like that", Letty smirked. "So? What's the problem?"

"Rome has a big mouth", he shrugged indifferently.

Letty snorted. "What about that is different from everyone else in this family?"

"Point taken."

"So… what crawled up your ass?"

Brian made a face. "Rome's a dumbass in general… but he's not an idiot. I told you I did a job in Miami – he went with me."

0

"_I ain't scared. I'm just lettin' you all know that going in that building… is __**crazy**__."_

_Brian chuckled under his breath and headed after his retreating friend. "I got this." He followed Rome across the roof and down the ladder to an adjacent lower building. "Hold up, man", he called._

_Rome turned and scowled at him. "This is all that shit that was wrong with you in Miami", he muttered. "I didn't realize crazy was __**catchy**__."_

_Brian smirked. "Miami? That job still givin' you the heebie-jeebies?" he teased._

"_Ya know… I thought maybe it was just 'cause you're white. Everyone knows white boys ain't got no sense. But that wasn't it, was it? You had all this insanity rub off on you, and it made you stupid", Rome grumbled._

_Brian rolled his eyes. "Yeah, let's just say I'm crazy 'cause I'm white. Asshole", he grumbled under his breath._

"_You jumped a __**car**__ into a __**boat**__, Brian!"_

_Brian shrugged. "It worked, didn't it?"_

"_I'd knock you upside the head if I thought it would help any", Rome grumbled exasperatedly._

"_Oh, and we just broke Dom out of a prison bus headed for Lompoc", Brian reminded helpfully. "You want out… I won't hold it against you."_

"_Cuz, you know I gotta eat."_

_Brian laughed. "Right. You've got a fast __**metabolism**__."_

0

She chuckled when he finished. "You… are _such_ an adrenaline junkie."

"Hey now-"

"You might be able to run away from everyone else, but you can't run from yourself", she muttered. "I get it. I learned that lesson the hard way too."

"Like getting hit in the face with a Santa sack full of bricks", he said under his breath.

"Now, come on. No more moping. You said you'd help me car shop", Letty prompted.

He grinned at her. "You bet. And I wasn't moping!"

"Sure you weren't", she teased over her shoulder.

0

**A/N: Okay… ummm, somehow there was no sex in this chapter, but I feel like it was still full of word porn. Not really intended, but **_**really?**_** (I love word porn, but I tried to write it out of this chapter for the sake of an actual plot.) Then again, maybe I've been enjoying my second favorite fandom a little too much lately *coughcough* If you don't see word porn in this chapter, please let me know so I can make an appointment with a therapist… and REVIEW! Please. Crazy people need reviews too.**


	13. Chapter 13

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

_**Chapter 13**_

_Life continued after Letty's mother's funeral. It wasn't the same, and it left Letty with a gaping hole in her life that felt like it would never heal… but life did go on. She worked at the garage on auto-pilot, as well as adjusting to living full-time at the Torettos' house. She moved into the guest bedroom next to Mia's and eventually started to feel a bit settled._

_Tony had been quite blunt about not letting him catch her and Dom in bed together – 'this house is not a hotel', is what he'd said. So… they didn't let him catch them. And some mornings it ended up with one of them pushed out of bed as a wake-up call so they wouldn't be seen._

_They all celebrated six months later when Tony won the final race that would admit him into the one he had been working towards. The Palmdale race._

_That celebration barbeque would be the last time that Letty and Mia felt the protection of family for a long time._

_00_

_(Directly follows last chapter)_

"What are you guys doing?"

Dominic came back into the kitchen and found Letty and Brian at the table hunched over a laptop.

"Shopping", Letty lilted easily – like she always shopped online. _Yeah right._

"For?" he prompted. Brian was studiously ignoring him while he clicked away on the keyboard.

"I need new wheels", Letty answered seriously. "Not having a car feels like I got a hand chopped off. And since Brian informed me that you have enough money for me to roll around naked in… I'm scouting out my options."

"I didn't say anything about the naked thing", Brian muttered under his breath.

Dom snorted, mouth twitching. "What's mine is yours?" he chuckled.

She leveled him a look. "I have my own money. I don't need to spend yours."

Brian nudged her then. "Need a bank account? I can set one up online for you."

She swore. "Yes- later though. I'm gonna have to make a trip to get the rest of my money. I've got it squirreled away in a few places." That got her a round of raised eyebrows that made her bristle. "What?" she demanded finally. "Dominic, quit looking at me like that. You know I'm good with money."

"How much?"

"A few hundred thousand", she shrugged, "Somewhere around five, maybe. Not quite sure of the exact number."

"Letty, how the hell'd you manage that? Don't tell me you robbed a bank too?" Dom rolled his eyes.

She raised her own eyebrows in his direction. "I've been putting away money for _years_."

"Should I have known that?" he asked finally.

Letty shook her head. "Nope. I didn't tell you on purpose. It was for my own piece of mind. If something went badly or we needed fast cash… it was my money. I wasn't exactly trying to hide it from you."

Dom shook his head. "I'm not upset. Things were rocky at times. You were being smart and covering your own ass."

"Thank you for saying that", she murmured quietly. Then she grinned up at him. "I always said I was the smart one."

"Smart _mouth_", Dom countered jokingly as he pulled a chair over and sat down to stare at the computer screen. "What are we looking for? You want a fixer-upper, or what?"

Brian snorted. "Good luck trying to figure that out. All she knows is she wants something to paint red."

Letty socked him on the shoulder. "I'm _perusing_", she insisted. "I'm going to look until something pops out at me."

"I'm pretty sure the porn advertisements are blocked on here", Brian remarked solemnly. "Although, I bet if you looked hard enough, you could find an ad for erectile dysfunction."

Letty winced in disgust. "_Eww!_"

"Do I _really_ need to sit between you two?" Dom asked mildly.

"He started it."

"She car shops like a girl."

Letty popped the back of Brian's head for _that_ comment. "Too far", she warned testily, ignoring the grin on his face as she elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hey! No violence at the table", he laughed.

"Where's Mia?" Dom complained rubbing his forehead.

"Right here", Mia answered coming down the stairs. "I just gave Marisa a bath and put her to bed." She eyed the little set-up at the table warily. "What's going on?"

Dom waved a hand in Letty and Brian's direction. "Their _Catdog_ act is giving me a headache."

"_Catdog?"_ Letty snickered. "Are you serious? Have you been watching Cartoon Network again?"

Mia went to the fridge and pulled out a round of beers and passed them out before taking her own seat at the table. "Okay, so what are you guys doing?"

"I'm car shopping", Letty answered exasperatedly.

"And she's hitting me", Brian added under her breath.

"Well, you keep saying stupid stuff", she rolled her eyes.

Mia smothered a laugh for her brother's sake. They had been picking on each other since Letty showed up the first day. She and Dom hadn't ever really been like that growing up. They were too many years apart, and Dom had taken care of her while their father had grieved the loss of their mother, and as over-protective as he was, sometimes it had felt like she had two fathers. Now that they were older, their relationship was different. It still had been an adjustment for him to treat her like an adult, but it had happened.

And while she hadn't bickered with her brother growing up, she and definitely had with Vince. Dom, on the other hand, had probably only ever really play fought with Letty – and somehow, it always managed to turn into a real fight because they couldn't help but piss each other off. And he and Vince had had their moments as well, but that had been when they were teenagers. When he had come back from Lompoc and assumed his place as head of the house, he exuded a seriousness that had taken years to even begin to chip away at. Mia wasn't worried. He'd get over it.

Mia supposed it was kind of ironic that Brian was the first person he had let in there circle since prison. It had made the sting of betrayal seem much worse than it had been. _They_, she and Brian, had had plenty of time to work out their issues while waiting the four and a half months for Dom's trial, and had talked at length about everything that had happened. And he had given answers to all her questions. He had even told her more about his lengthy undercover assignment than he probably should of… but she was at peace with it all. She had her family – he had saved her brother's life more than once, she knew. She had no intention of letting anything split up this family again.

Once they had gotten settled on the island, Mia had made them both promise they wouldn't take any more unnecessary risks, and they had mostly kept their words, for which she was thankful. She hadn't been thrilled when Dom was travelling _back_ to Rio to see Elena, but she had bit her tongue.

And she didn't say a word when they caught the occasional ferry to one of the other islands that made up Goa to race. She knew better than to get between men and their need for an adrenaline rush. They got to play with cars, and she got to either play with Marisa or have an early night and enjoy a bubble bath. All in all, things were fairly normal around here. Brian and Letty bickering like long-lost siblings only served to amuse her further.

So, she got up and found a few packets of popcorn and began heating them up in the microwave.

0

Letty woke up to her phone buzzing from her pants pocket on the floor and groaned in frustration, rubbing her eyes as she managed to get herself upright. This _had_ to stop. She pulled Dom's t-shirt over her head as she flicked open her phone.

"Ugh, _what_?" she hissed irritatedly. "It's four a.m."

He chuckled. "Sorry."

Letty stepped out onto the balcony through the open glass doors and leaned against the railing. _She was going to tell Dom they needed a couch out here._ "Leon, if you don't stop calling me in the middle of the night while I'm naked- you realize, you were supposed to call two days ago", she said seriously. "Chicken shit."

"Hey now, don't be like that. I took two weeks off starting Sunday so I can come see your sorry ass", he laughed.

She grinned. "Did you?"

"I did."

"Wanna do me another favor?" she asked cautiously. "It would save me a trip."

He sighed. "Where are you at now anyway?"

"Goa", she snickered. "They bought a _huge_ vacation house on Dona Paula Beach. It's practically a private beach."

"You're gonna break my bank account, woman", he growled.

"Nah, I'll pay you", she countered immediately. "At least for the extra plane ticket. I need you to pick up my money."

He made an irritated noise. "_Letty_, your money is all over Venezuela."

"_Three spots_", she clarified. "Quit bitching. It's triangulated. I'll give you all the instructions you need. If you don't, I'll have to go, and Dom will try to come with me."

He groaned, giving up, "_Fine._ But I better get a decent breakfast out of this."

"That's outright blackmail", she grumbled.

"Damn straight."

"See you soon?"

"Yeah, probably Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. I'll keep you posted."

Letty grinned as she hung up. _Things were looking up._

"Is everything okay?"

She turned at Dom's voice behind her. "Yeah, Leon just has no concept of time", she chuckled. "You know, we really need an outdoor couch out here."

"Find one and we'll get it", he smiled slightly.

"You know I hate shopping", she scowled.

Dom leaned forward and nipped at her pouting lower lip, drawing it into his mouth. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she groaned into his mouth. He growled and picked her up, releasing her mouth as she wrapped her legs around his waist. His mouth brushed against her neck just under her earlobe.

"Bed, now", she commanded hoarsely.

He carried her back into the room and sat on the edge of the bed with her in his lap. "You look fucking hot in my shirt, Let", he rumbled.

She snapped the waistband of his boxers irritatedly. "Why'd you put these back on?" she hissed as his hand palmed her breast over the t-shirt. "I took them off earlier for a _reason_."

"Relax, woman", he murmured hotly in her ear, free hand raking through her sleep tousled hair. "We'll get there. Be patient."

"I don't have time to be patient", she grumbled against his neck. "I want you inside me."

His hands slid downward and under the bottom of the shirt, cupping her bare ass. He pulled her down against his erection and held her hips hard to keep her from moving. He sucked on the side of her neck. "One of these times, you and I _are_ going to go slow – even if I have to tie you down to do it."

Her moan sounded strangled as her face was pressed into his chest. "Dom, _please._"

"Do you remember what that was like, Let?" he continued like she hadn't spoken, his voice low in her ear. "_Slow sex_", he purred.

"_Torturous_", she ground out through clenched teeth as she felt his hand slip between her legs.

"You always looked so damn sexy when you came apart underneath me."

Letty sucked in a lungful of air and pushed his shoulders. "Dominic, now!"

He let her push him onto the bed and within seconds, she was lowering herself onto him, a whimper escaping her lips. She felt him shift underneath her as he drew his legs up and rested his heels on the edge of the bed, and his thighs brushed against her back as she started to ride him. He peeled his t-shirt off of her and tossed it across the room, giving his hands free access to her body.

It didn't take long for both of them to fly over the precipice – because Letty refused to do _slow_, and she had taken him with her. Dom chuckled into her hair as she snuggled against him. They would have time for it later. He nudged her over onto her back gently, crowding her space so her shoulder brushed against his chest. Her eyes fluttered closed and he let his hand splay across her flat stomach.

"Letty."

Her eyebrows went up even though she didn't open her eyes. "Hmm?"

He pinched her lightly. "Hey, don't go to sleep, you."

Letty reluctantly poked an eye open and then blinked. "Okay, okay… you've got your serious face on. What's up?"

"I'm sorry. I never should have left you like I did. I thought I was doing the right thing – trying to protect you."

"Dom-"

"Don't. I know you're trying to protect yourself, and you don't quite believe me yet when I tell you I'm not going anywhere. And that's okay if it takes a while. I waited for you before, remember? I don't regret it. I promise you, you won't wake up alone ever again. This place is safe. Mia and Brian are starting over – starting a family. I want that with you, Letty. I wasn't thinking about us like that when I got out of prison or when we were jacking those trucks. But after Baja, when I only got to see you a few weeks at a time, I started thinking about what it would be like to be able to settle down."

"Dominic, it's too soon for that-"

"Chill out, Let. I don't mean this second", he chuckled. "You're still on birth control anyway. If something happens, we'll handle it. But otherwise, we'll talk about it when you're ready. It's not about the money – obviously. But if we can plan for it, maybe it'll make things easier. You're in my future, Letty, no matter where we end up."

0

_Brian walked out of FBI Headquarters finally able to head home and he let out a sigh of relief. He walked to the edge of the parking lot towards his car. Stopping about fifty feet away, he blinked at the mirage of a familiar woman sitting comfortably on the hood of his car. His steps didn't falter, but he blinked a few more times, and when she didn't seem to disappear, he swore under his breath and approached cautiously._

"_O'Connor", Letty drawled._

"_Why's your ass on my car?" he asked flatly. __**He did not need this right now.**_

"_It's a Camry", she grumbled in disgust._

"_Why are you here, Letty? You wanna punch me? I figure you might owe me one or two. Go ahead and get it over with."_

_She studied him curiously. "I didn't come here to hit you – although the idea is sort of appealing. We need to talk."_

"_Ouch", he complained. Then he straightened and hit the unlock button on his car remote. "Get in." he opened his door and got comfortable behind the driver's seat without waiting for her as she slid of the hood._

_He pulled out of the parking lot and headed to his small apartment six blocks away. The ride was silent, but not uncomfortably so, as Letty switched between eyeing his car distastefully and glancing at him oddly._

_When they got to his place, he unlocked the door and let her in. She went straight to his fridge and pulled out two bottles of Corona. "Make yourself at home", he muttered as she continued to rummage until she found the bottle opener and passed his drink to him._

"_You look like shit", she offered mildly._

"_Thanks."_

"_Seriously… you look like you haven't slept in a year." Letty frowned slightly at her own mothering behavior. He looked nothing like the light-hearted idiot that had bounced around the garage five years ago. And the lack of floppy blonde hair took away any carefree attitude he might have had left._

"_Longer", he admitted finally. "Probably not since I gave Dom the keys to the Supra- I just got back from what turned into an almost five year assignment in Peru. I saw some dark shit, Letty. Let's leave it at that. Haven't fully recovered yet, so thanks", he scowled slightly. He went to the basket on top of the microwave where he had tossed his keys and pulled out a stack of menu's and tossed the lightly onto the counter. "Call for take-out while I get a shower. We'll talk after that."_

_0_

_Twenty minutes later, they were sitting on his crappy couch eating pizza and drinking beer. Brian waited until they were finished to ask the question that was burning in the back of his mind._

"_Why are you here, Let?" he asked seriously, settling back against the couch cushions._

"_I want to bring Dom home", she said seriously. "I'm willing to deal. Racers – __**decent racers**__ – have been disappearing right and left between L.A. and San Francisco. I've heard some names-"_

_Brian sat up immediately. "__**Bloody fucking hell**__- no", he finished in a calmer tone._

"_Brian, I came to you first because I figured, at the very least, you would be straight with me. But don't think for one second I won't walk into your inner sanctum of law enforcement without your help. They'll listen to me, and you know it."_

"_Letty, __**no**__", he repeated. "Dom would cross the border just to kick my ass if something happened to you."_

_She shook her head a bit derisively. "He wouldn't have to know until it's all done."_

"_And if you get killed? Then what, Letty?" he snapped._

"_Then maybe I won't have to keep feeling like a chump every time I wake up and find him gone. I can't do it anymore. I need to be with him for good or not at all. This middle ground crap is driving me insane."_

"_He wouldn't want you to risk your life for him."_

"_Just like you gave up your career for him?" she questioned harshly. "I'd say things turned out pretty well for you."_

"_I'm not working for the FBI because I want to… I didn't have a choice", he said tensely. "I'm telling you this is a bad idea."_

"_I'll give you a week to change your mind before I find someone else to talk to. Dom's not here He doesn't get to tell me what I'm allowed to risk. Help me bring him home, Brian, please. You'll be the only one here who cares."_

"_I'll think about it", he muttered reluctantly. "Come on. I'll give you a ride home."_

"_Your car really sucks, you know that?" she chuckled._

_He sighed exasperatedly. "Trust me. I know."_

_0_

**A/N: Another chapter out, I know! Yay! Reviews are like crack and make me type faster!**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

**A/N: Ummm… pardon my legal jargon? Lol.**

_**Chapter 14**_

_Brian only had an overnight stay in the hospital after Braga's right-hand man Fenix flipped his car tried to kill him. But he spent nearly a week straight at the office giving statements and filling out five mountains of paperwork – IA was having a field day. It was Wednesday of the next week when he was finally finished and given two weeks of vacation time. He drove to the Toretto house to see Mia._

_It was perfect timing too, because Brian was certain that if he had to listen to one more thing out of his superiors' mouths he was going to lose it. Dom was being held in the county jail until sentencing. Brian was so pissed off at the system he could hardly breathe without screaming profanities. After all the papers signed and deals made, Dom was still going to get screwed. Brian was already filling out his resignation papers to be handed in at a moment's notice._

_The law accounted for things that were black and white when so many decisions that often had to be made were not… he couldn't do this anymore. But he wasn't suffering any internal crisis over it – truth be told he was more at peace with this decision than he had been for any other in his life. He decision to quit had been nearly immediate when Dom had come back to L.A. and Brian had been told to bring him in. Some things even he couldn't justify within the law._

_He knocked on the front door and waited to be let in, grateful that no one was watching the house now that the case was closed. Mia locked the door behind him and took the offered hug. She pulled back after a minute and eyed him._

"_You look like crap", she observed, raising her eyebrows._

_He chuckled. "Thanks." Then he turned serious. "Let's go in the kitchen. We need to talk." They sat down at the kitchen table. "Did you go see Dom?"_

_Mia nodded. "Yeah, we met with the lawyer. He seems decent, at least. I can't believe we're doing this again", she said quietly. "The first time was bad enough."_

"_Mia, what I'm going to tell you needs to stay between us. You can't say a word to anyone – not Dom, not the lawyer, __**no one**__."_

_She looked at him warily, "What is it?"_

"_Promise me, Mia. What I'm going to say can't leave this room", he said seriously._

"_Brian, I promise", she hissed seriously. "Tell me."_

_He shifted in his chair and winced a bit. He had a feeling Mia was going to flip out. Brian sighed and scrubbed his hands over her face. "This is going to go bad… really bad. I'm writing a recommendation for leniency, but it's still going to be up to the judge – there won't be a jury for this case. The whole situation went beyond the FBI, and a judge doesn't have to honor any of the deals that were made even though they were legitimate. There's no date set yet, so I can't tell you who the judge is to know if things might work out."_

"_So, what are you saying?" Mia asked tensely. "That we don't have a chance in hell?"_

_Brian grimaced. "I just want you to understand the situation. Mia… I'm making contingency plans. The less you know the better, but I'm not letting Dom go back to Lompoc."_

"_Are you crazy, Brian?" Mia stared at him incredulously. "What do you honestly think you can do?"_

"_I don't have all the kinks worked out yet", he said flatly._

"_Are you sure you don't still have a concussion?" she scowled at him. "Don't try to bullshit me, O'Connor. Spit it out."_

"_If I tell you anything, you'll be an accessory. I shouldn't have said anything", he muttered. He got up and grabbed a beer from the fridge._

_Mia crossed her arms on the table top and didn't look at him. "Why are you doing this again?" she asked softly. "I think you've more than made up for whatever it is you think you did wrong. And I know Dom would agree."_

_He shook his head. "That's not why-"_

"_Isn't it?" she demanded._

_He leaned against the counter and glanced at her briefly. "I had been a cop for almost a year before a buddy of mine got arrested and sent to Chino for three years over some cars with stolen parts. I didn't arrest him, I didn't even know there was a bust going down… but he blamed me for not helping him. We're good now, but that's mostly because I got his name cleared when we went after a drug lord in Miami. Man- Mia, there are criminals, and then there are guys like that. Guys who torture people with rats-" he frowned. "Dom fucked up jacking those trucks. But there are worse people that deserve to be in prison. That trade off – him for Braga – it was legit. And even if you'd rather not hear this, Letty made me swear if anything went wrong, I'd find a way to work things out."_

"_Brian, I-"_

"_I'm not done", he said seriously. "I messed up. When I started investigating in L.A., we really didn't know who was responsible for the heists. All we knew was that Dom was running the streets around here and that he would at least know who it was. I didn't come here to bust your family, but that's what happened. Before that though… I broke one of the number one rules of going under cover. I got emotionally involved, and I shouldn't have. I wasn't using you, Mia. I don't expect you to believe me or forgive me for what happened. But I didn't lie when I said I fell for you. I should have gotten out – told my CO's that I had been compromised. Instead I started looking for connections to anyone else that I could. Hector came into the Racer's Edge and bought a whole list of parts for three Civics, and I thought for sure I had a lead. Vince and Dom caught me sneaking into Hector's garage and Vince knocked me out." He chuckled wryly. "I don't blame Vince for hating my guts. He was right. And Dom had no reason to believe me over him."_

"_Yeah, well, you can definitely spin bullshit like a spider web", she smirked._

"_That's… disgusting", he shook his head, half-amused._

"_And Vince had the disadvantage of going on one too many jealous tirades", she added after a minute. Mia stood up and walked into the kitchen and leaned against the sink next to him. "I was angry at you", she said quietly. "For a long time. You were the only one who ever saw me as someone besides Dom's baby sister. When you told me you were a cop… god, I could have punched you."_

"_I thought you were going to", he muttered._

_She eyed him for a long moment before her jaw tightened in that patented Toretto stubbornness. "I want to help."_

_He groaned. "Mia, no-"_

"_I'm not asking, Brian", Mia said flatly._

"_You do this… you can __**never**__ come back, Mia. Do you understand that? Your life here will be over. You'll be on the run for the rest of your life. Are you honestly okay with that?" he asked seriously._

"_I can't let Dom go to prison again. I don't want to have to wonder if he's okay, or if he got picked up, or blown up in some car race- and you've got shit for brains if you think I'm going to let the two of you run around the world on your own. Who knows what kind of trouble you'd get yourself into", she shook her head._

_He grimaced. "Okay, yeah, we both have bad track records with trouble."_

"_At least you'll admit it", she smiled wryly._

"_Alright, we'll start planning tomorrow."_

_00_

Letty had spent several hours on the beach with Mia and Marisa while the Brian and Dom did god knows what with their cars. She was so in love with that little girl – the little girl who had eyes to match the pair she had fallen in love with years ago. Letty was walking from the bathroom in a t-shirt and shorts, towel-drying her hair, when Dom caught her in the hallway and pinned her up against the wall. She peered up at him curiously and fought back a giggle at the mischief dancing in his eyes. She quirked an eyebrow, waiting for him to speak.

He was pressed flush against her, invading her space, hands on her hips while he nuzzled her neck. "Hi, wifey", he chuckled lightly.

Laughter vibrated through her chest. "_Dominic-_"

"You and I are going out tonight", he muttered against her ear.

"Are we?"

"Mhm."

"Gonna tell me where we're going?" Letty prompted.

"Hmmm, nope", he grinned.

"And what should I wear for this little adventure?" her eyebrow went up.

"Something sexy", he purred.

"'Club sexy' or 'show some leg sexy'?" she teased curiously.

He growled and kissed her mouth roughly, hands wandering down her body to wrap around her thighs and then palmed her ass, pressing her against him. "Leg", he demanded decisively. "Definitely leg."

Her head fell against the wall and she let out a throaty laugh, "Okay, papa. You win. When do we leave?"

"Eight-thirty." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Do me a favor?"

Her head tilted. "What?"

His hands slid under her hair behind her neck and he unhooked the long chain around her neck and let it drop her ring into the palm of his hand. "Put it back on", he said seriously.

She gnawed on her bottom lip for half a second before hold her left hand out and let him slide it back on her finger. She stared at it with a slight smile on her face. "Now my neck feels bare", she complained.

He chuckled and passed her chain back. "You want to wear this still?"

She took it and sighed. "Not really", she admitted ruefully.

"I'll buy you another necklace, okay, Let?" he grinned.

She smirked slightly. The idea of him buying her jewelry still settled funny in her stomach – worse even because she kind of liked it. _So odd…_ "Okay, I can live with that", she chuckled.

0

Dinner ended, and Mia shooed Letty into her bedroom to get her ready for her night on the town. Dominic had discreetly told Mia their destination a few days ago and asked her for a favor, so she had found the perfect dress was right for Letty to wear at a local vintage shop, and had stashed it in the closet of the guest bedroom along with a pair of strappy black heels the Letty would bitch over.

Letty was shoved into a cushioned chair as Mia fussed briefly with her hair, deciding to leave it falling naturally down her back before starting on her make-up. Mia was raiding her make-up drawer when Letty sighed.

"No offense, Mi… but I _am_ capable of doing my own make-up", she grumbled.

Mia snorted. "Because you wear so much of it?" she asked archly.

"I don't understand why this is necessary", Letty rolled her eyes. "I don't even know where we're going."

"Nope, you don't. But I do", Mia grinned. "I'm not telling, so don't bother asking. Just hold still, and let me get you ready."

"You know where he's taking me?" Letty raised her eyebrows.

"Yes."

"_Mia-_"

"No", Mia repeated. "I even have something for you to wear", she continued.

Letty glowered at her sister-in-law viciously. "You Torettos are damn infuriating."

Mia smirked. "With lots of practice", she murmured.

"You're not gonna try and paint my nails again, are you?" Letty narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her jovial tone.

Mia laughed outright. "No, I learned my lesson quite well the first time, thank you."

Letty closed her eyes obediently, mouth twitching in amusement as Mia went about her tasks of beautification. She must have gone lightly since she declared Letty to be done after only twenty minutes.

"Alright, stay put. I'll go get your outfit."

Mia came back a few minutes later with a garment bag and a pair of strappy black leather heels hanging from her fingertips.

"I'm not wearing those shoes", Letty said flatly.

"_When_ is the last time you wore heels?" Mia asked dangerously. "Please don't tell me it was prom."

"No- I will kill myself in those", Letty argued.

Mia handed her the garment bag, a stubborn look on her face. "Try them on with your dress. If you can't walk in them, you can borrow a pair of my flats."

Letty tilted her head at the protective bag in her hands curiously, and then hung it on the top of the open closet door and began unzipping it carefully. "_Mia_", she hissed. "Where the hell did you find this?"

Mia bounced onto the bed. "There's a boutique shop in town that suits you to a 't'. You'll look hell'a hot in that dress", she teased.

Letty flashed a grin as she let the bag fall to the floor and pulled the dress from the hanger, "Nineties flashback?"

"Wanna go eighties?" Mia challenged. "I can probably still do the _Thriller_ dance."

"Shut up, and help me get into this thing", Letty snickered. Then she froze. "Shit- I need a strapless bra for that dress."

Mia rolled her eyes and went into her closet. "I figured you've never owned a strapless in your life, so I took care of that too." She tossed Letty a small bag.

Letty grinned. "Mia, you are the ultimate fashion consultant", she praised.

Mia laid the dress out on the bed and shoved Letty towards the bathroom. "Go, change. We've got twenty minutes, and I need to do your hairspray and lipstick."

"If _hairspray_ is going to take twenty minutes, we can fuckin' skip it", Letty muttered as she closed the bathroom door. When she came out five minutes later, Mia just smiled widely. "Zip me up", Letty shook her head in amusement and turned around.

"Damn, I pick out a good dress", Mia nodded approvingly, stepping back from her task. "Twirl", she commanded.

Letty's dress was ruby red with only one strap over her right shoulder, leading down to a matching ruffle-pleated neckline and bodice. It had an empire waistline with silky layers draping across a tulip-split skirt. The bottom of the skirt fell to mid-thigh. Letty eyed herself in the full-length mirror.

"I look like Selena", Letty flashed a smile.

"Heels, Let", she insisted.

Letty groaned but took the shoes and flopped gracelessly onto the bed. "If I sprain an ankle-"

"Oh shut up", Mia giggled. "Do me one favor?"

"What's that?"

"When you and Dom get home tonight and want to bang like bunnies, try to make it to the bedroom", Mia grimaced.

Letty let out an unexpected bark of laughter. "Dammit, Mia, we haven't fucked on the couch in years!"

"Not for lack of trying", Mia shot back. "One time of seeing my brother's bare ass was _plenty_."

Letty cackled and went to sit at the vanity again. "Okay, finish me up."

0

Letty walked down the stairs to find Dom in the kitchen at the sink with his back to her. She grinned and cleared her throat as she leaned on the doorjamb. He turned and blatantly eyed her as he leaned lazily against the counter looking hot as sin himself.

"Damn, papa, I didn't know you could look so hot with sleeves", she chuckled, ogling him playfully. His black button up, long sleeve shirt clung to his muscles deliciously, and his dark jeans were clinging to his rear in a way she couldn't ignore. "Are you sure we have to go out tonight?" she waggled her eyebrows teasingly. "I'm not opposed to just going upstairs and having hot sex."

He laughed quietly. "We'll do that later. But we _are_ going out first. If we go to bed now, I'll rip that dress off you with my teeth – which would be a shame, because you're going to wear that again."

"Where are we going again?" she tried, heading in his direction.

"Didn't tell you before", he smirked. "You'll like it."

"Dom, you know how I feel about surprises", she made a face.

"Uh-huh", he bent down to kiss her mouth briefly. "I still think your perspective about that is out of wack. Loves adventures, hates surprises – you're a nut."

"Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't", she smiled lightly.

"Let's go", he prompted, "Before I do something completely indecent." Dom wound an arm around her waist and kissed her hair and grinned, propelling her towards the door. "I have the hottest wife _ever_."

Letty grinned. "Damn right you do. Gonna tell me where we're going?"

"_Letty_."

0

When Dom parked the car, Letty's mouth dropped open. He had driven to a somewhat secluded spot on the beach where there was a live band playing on a stage with a platform for dancing surrounded by picnic tables as well as a small tiki bar to order drinks.

"Dominic, seriously?" He grinned and got out of the car and walked around to open her door. "Gentlemanly behavior- damn we must be getting old", she chuckled. Then she stopped and held out her foot. "Do you really expect me to dance in these heels?"

"I'll hold you up", he promised.

0

It was nearing midnight when they left the throng of people to a more private area, finding a picnic table a few hundred feet away in the sparse grass and they each took a side

"I don't know that I've ever had to say it before", Letty smiled and took a sip of her sangria, "but you are brilliant."

"Since you're just now noticing, you can say it again if you want", he smirked.

She snorted. "Uh-uh. Shoulda had the recorder ready the first time."

"I knew I forgot something", he joked.

Letty took a few moments of silence to take in their surroundings before she turned back to him. "Dom… if you could have anything, what would it be?" she asked seriously.

He eyed her curiously. "You already know the answer to that question."

Her fingertips circled the rim of her glass slowly before she pushed it to the side gently and crawled onto the top of the table to sit in front of him, her feet on the bench on either side of his legs, head tilted down to see his face. "You promised you wouldn't leave me again… I trust you, Dominic. You want us to have a family. Okay. As long as you promise to understand when I have my inevitable freak outs… we can try the whole 'baby thing'."

"Letty-"

She shook her head, interrupting him. "No. I need to tell you some things first. I've been putting it off because I don't know that I can honestly say I'm proud of myself… but if we're going to do this, you need to know."

"I'm listening."

0

Mia woke the next morning to banging in her kitchen. Her senses went on high alert once she looked at the clock and realized it was barely seven yet. She pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a tank top and headed for the stairs as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. She sighed when she saw Dom.

She cleared her throat pointedly. "Are you making a mess in my kitchen?"

He waived her off playfully. "I'll clean it up when I'm done."

"Damn right you will", she grumbled.

He gestured to the coffee pot. "Drink", he ordered, passing her a coffee cup. "Toretto women are notoriously bitchy in the morning."

"That's because Toretto _men_ are always so _notoriously_ goddamn _chipper_", she sniped as she fixed her coffee. He just grinned at her and tugged on her hair affectionately ignoring her mood.

"Want me to make you something to eat?" he offered.

She eyed his still cooking omelet dubiously and shook her head. "Thanks, but I'll stick with toast." She grabbed the bread from the counter and dropped four slices in the toaster, and then grabbed the jam from the fridge and put it on the table with a knife. She grabbed her two when they popped up and left the others for Dom, and went to the table to eat.

A few minutes later he came to the table to eat with her as she slowly munched through her toast and sipped her over-sweet concoction of coffee, finally starting to feel alert. "So, why are you up so early, Dom?" she asked curiously. "You guys didn't get home until nearly one.

"Ah", he teased, "That caffeine finally kicked in, huh?" Her scowl made him chuckle.

"Ha ha, very funny, Dom", she rolled her eyes.

"It is", he agreed easily. "You're such a Miss Mary Sunshine the rest of the time; it's nice to know you're at least half normal."

"You didn't answer my question", Mia pointed out.

"I need the number for your gynecologist", Dom said, mouth twitching.

She snorted in amusement. "You do realize that's a woman's doctor, right, Dominic?"

"Oh, hush. Yes, I'm aware of that", he chuckled. "I mean for Letty. I'm taking her to get her insert taken out – before she turns chicken."

Mia gave an appropriately quiet squeal of excitement. "It's about damn time", she grinned.

"You're tellin' me", he smiled.

"Her idea?" she prompted curiously.

"Finally, yes."

Mia nodded approvingly. "You've always been so patient with her", she said quietly.

"You know how skittish she is sometimes", he said in an undertone. "She's never been comfortable planning for the future – although I'll admit I'm mostly to blame in that."

"Well, when your motto for life is 'ride or die'… there really is no looking ahead, is there?" she acknowledged gently. "You may have been the Big Kahuna, but we were all adults, Dom. You weren't solely responsible, and I think you know that – even though it doesn't make it any easier. Nothing to do but move on."

"When'd you get so smart?" he teased.

"I've always been smart. Sometimes you just didn't listen so well", she said mildly.

He grimaced. "I know. You're right. I'm sorry, Mia."

"I appreciate that", she murmured. "But I think I would prefer you explain to me, why exactly you didn't tell me about you and Letty getting married", Mia arched an eyebrow playfully.

Dominic groaned. "That's not my fault", he grumbled. "She could have told you herself while she was in the States."

"But she didn't", Mia said sternly. "And you had plenty of time before she showed up here to tell me, and you didn't. Mind giving me an explanation?"

"Can I get back to you on that?" he hedged.

"Fine", she sighed exasperatedly. "But don't think for one minute that I'll forget." Mia took their plates and coffee mugs into the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher. She squeezed his shoulder as she passed. "I'll get you that number."

0

The next morning, the household was woken up by an obnoxious sort of catcalling from near their front porch. Letty's head poked out from under the covers and grinned. She shoved Dom gently. "Get up, get up!" she insisted, rolling out of bed.

Letty was out of bed, and had a pair of pajama pants tugged on with her tank top before he managed a muffled, "What the fuck?"

Dominic shook himself awake and found his own discarded pair of pants. When he stepped out onto the porch, he saw Letty several yards away with her back to him, off the ground, and in the arms of another man. He raised his eyebrows and leaned against the post, not quite awake yet. Staring curiously, it still took him a moment to figure out what he was seeing, and that he actually _knew_ man.

Dom straightened, a grin making its way across his face. "Hey, Leon!" he called, "Mind putting my wife down?"

00

**A/N: Alright, there you have it, folks. Leon is finally here and things are moving along quite steadily for our favorite couple. (This chapter was loosely edited, so if there are any major errors, let me know.)**


	15. Chapter 15

_**Letty's Story**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah… I still don't own Fast and Furious anything. I wish. I'd share with Vin Diesel. A/N: Likely to have spoilers for all movies. BUT, FYI I am ignoring the part about Berlin.**

**Summary: My take on Letty's journey after Dom left her in the Dominican Republic. All important characters will be cannon. Letty/Dom.**

**A/N: Ummm… I know, I know! I suck! It's been so long! I hope the wait was worth it. Review and let me know what you think. =) And tell me if there are any major errors please.**

_**Chapter 15**_

"So, what've you been up to, man?" Brian asked Leon.

They were all sitting somewhat close to the water after dinner near Mia and Letty who were playing in the sand with Marisa. Leon grinned, watching the little girl squeal as Letty splashed her gently from an enclosed puddle.

"Well", he drawled, "Haven't done anything nearly as interesting as what you guys have been into lately."

Letty snorted. "That's a good thing, bro."

Dom laughed outright. "You're so full of shit. We all know you're just jealous you weren't involved.

Letty waived him off, flashing a saucy grin. "Bite me, Toretto."

He grinned wickedly, "Later, sweetheart. Promise."

"Nice to know some things haven't changed", Leon rolled his eyes. "You two still eye fuck like rabbits."

Mia rolled her eyes. "They also 'regular fuck' like rabbits."

Dom shot his sister a look. "We're gonna get the bedroom soundproofed", he offered dryly.

"Your money, big brother", she shook her head. "But I couldn't possibly be more scandalized than I was growing up with you two down the hall. To be fair, you guys have gotten quieter as you've gotten older. We can't hear you from our bedroom. The kitchen's a little iffy, though."

"_Mia!_"

Letty chewed on her bottom lip, attempting to hide a grin. Dom never cared who heard or _saw_ them when they were in the middle of naughty business – her words, not his – as long as it wasn't Mia. He would have rather gotten caught by the Pope while going at it in a confession box. The time Mia had come home from class early and caught them on the couch, they didn't have sex for almost a week until Letty wore him down. _She could be very persuasive._

Leon was the one who finally interrupted the sibling banter. "So, am I the only one who finds it all kinds of ironic that it was the cop who saved all our criminal asses and then broke Dom out of protective custody in transit?" he chuckled.

Dominic smirked around the mouth of his beer bottle before swallowing and saying dryly, "He wasn't a very good cop."

Brian grinned lazily, almost taking the statement as a compliment. "You're not a very good criminal either", he pointed out. "Just how many times _have_ I saved your ass since we met?"

"Aww, if you two are gonna have a bitch fight, please tell me we have a camera", Leon teased.

"Oh, trust me, you don't want to see that", Mia glowered at them fiercely. "Patching up bruised ribs and busted lips is not my idea of a good time."

"I'm good without another concussion, thanks", Brian answered sarcastically.

"You were asking for it", Dom pointed out mildly.

Brian grimaced. "Maybe", he allowed.

Mia brushed a hand through her daughter's curls.

"Time for bed?" Brian asked her.

"I think so", Mia nodded and gathered up they toys and put them in the plastic tote. "It's been a busy day."

Mia sent Marisa to Brian and he scooped her up and attempted to brush a bit of sand off of her but ended up getting covered himself as well. He ignored Dom's amused snort and held Marisa at him threateningly. "I could ask you to do this, you know", Brian teased letting Marisa cuddle in his lap and play with the band of his watch.

"I don't feel like getting sand in my teeth", Dom said pointedly.

Mia finally stood up, basket of toys in hand to take back to the house. "Alright, come on", she laughed. "We all need baths now."

"I'm gonna get the short end of the stick aren't I?" Brian rolled his eyes good-naturedly as he moved to follow her.

"You mean am I taking the first shower?" Mia smirked. "You bet your ass I am."

Brian laughed. "Yeah, we'll see."

Letty brushed the sand from her shorts and settled on Dom's lap.

As Brian got up to follow Mia back to the house to put their daughter to bed, his hand rested on Letty's shoulder lightly as he passed. He didn't think even Dom knew just how glad he was that Letty was alive. Still, it only slightly lessened the gnawing guilt he had left over from thinking he had gotten her killed.

But Letty glanced upwards with knowing eyes. "Quit thinkin' so hard, Blondie. You'll get frown lines."  
>He smirked slightly and jogged to catch up with Mia.<p>

"That's some crazy shit right there", Leon chuckled, gesturing his beer at their retreating forms.

"You know our family screwed over 'traditional' years ago", Dom shook his head, slightly amused.

"Can we acknowledge how crazy it is that _you two_ have gotten so damn domesticated-?"

"Have not!" Letty argued, affronted.

But Dom stroked a hand through her hair reverently. "I'm just glad this was a promise I could keep", he said quietly.

She tilted her head back and kissed his jaw. "You did good, papa", she murmured slipping her fingers between his.

He smiled slightly. "Had some help", he reminded.

The side of her mouth tilted up, "S'okay. That's what family's for, dumbass", Letty chided lightly.

"Hey, who're you callin' a dumbass?" Dominic complained, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I still love you", she insisted on a laugh.

He grinned, "Yeah, yeah. You'd better, _novia_."

She snorted, and elbowed his ribs. "_Novia?_ Pensé que fui su esposa." (_Girlfriend? I thought I was your wife._)

Leon grinned. "Damn, Let. Still a ball-buster", he chuckled.

"You know it", she smirked.

0

They gave Marisa a bath and read her a story while she drank her milk from a Sippy cup. It had been a long day, and the toddler had fallen asleep before they even got halfway thru the book.

They went to their own bedroom and Mia smiled. "It's been a good day", she murmured.

"Yeah", he agreed quietly. "It has."

She tugged him with her into the bathroom to shower. "Come on."

They lay in bed, Mia curled against his chest and running a hand through his hair. "You okay?"

Brian turned to look at her. "Just thinking", he offered quietly. "Everything's alright, Mia. I promise."

She groaned. "I hate when you say that to me. You know you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but quit looking like you want to go start a bar fight and lose on purpose."

He laughed quietly and kissed her cheek. "I love you."

She was immovable. "I'll make Dom sit on you until I'm sure you'll stay out of trouble if you don't get that look off your face."

He laughed until he couldn't breathe.

Mia's mouth twitched and she rolled her eyes. "Go to sleep", she muttered into his shoulder.

0

Brian woke up several hours later and glanced at the clock. 3:12 a.m. He sighed and slid carefully out from under Mia's arm and adjusted the covers again. He grinned when she shifted into the warm spot he left and wrapped her arms around his pillow. Brian got dressed and pulled the door closed behind him silently.

He crept downstairs to the kitchen and pulled a beer from the fridge. A barely muffled noise coming from the other side of the house, made him grimace good-naturedly. Apparently Dom and Letty were taking their plans for a baby _very seriously._ Brian twisted the lid off and tossed it on the counter, swallowing the contents of the bottle in a few gulps, attempting to shake off the night.

A few minutes later, he decided that it hadn't worked, and he snatched his set of car keys from the basket on the counter and headed silently out the door.

Brian pulled out as quietly as possible – which wasn't very quiet – and took off, letting instinct take over as his memories ran amuck.

0

_"You don't have to do this."_

_Letty glared at him fiercely. "Yes, I do. And you know it. I need Dom to fucking __**breathe**__. If he's not here... nothing else matters, Brian."_

_"__**Shit**__, Let- be careful", he sighed._

_She flashed him a devilish grin. "Don't bet on it."_

_Brian shook his head. "I'll always have my money on you, Letty. Call in as soon as you can."_

_She gave a nod and got in her car, driving off into the darkness without another word._

_That was the last time he saw her._

_0_

_Ten days before the trial, Brian began preparing Mia in earnest for the worst that could happen. He had asked vaguely if there was a place she thought would be safe if they had to get out of town in a hurry. She had taken in his measured look and nodded after a moment._

"_Yeah… but you aren't going to be happy about it", she mused thoughtfully._

_Brian smirked. "Try me", he raised an eyebrow._

"_Vince", she offered finally._

_He just tilted his head curiously. "He'd do it for Dom though", Brian acknowledged quietly. "Can you get in touch with him?"_

"_He called about six months ago and gave me a number before hanging up. He said it was for an emergency. I'd say this could be considered an emergency", Mia said dryly._

"_Get him on the phone", he agreed. "I'm probably going to have to talk to him. Don't tell him much; just that we might need to crash with him for a few days, and get his address. Let him know we're all getting new phones and we'll call when we're on our way."_

_Mia pursed her lips. "You don't think there's a shot in hell that Dom will get off, do you?"_

_Brian shook his head. "Dom's lawyer called me this morning. He told me the judge on roster for Dom's trial date. The guy's a hardass, Mia. He's not going to let anything slide no matter how good the defense might be. There won't be any press allowed in the courtroom, and it's going to take the better part of half a day. But the end result will most likely be Dom doing time. I'll pick up six pay-as-you-go phones over the next few days from places out of the area. We're probably going to need them. We can get a few more once we cross the border."_

"_Are you really prepared to toss your life away again, Brian?" Mia asked softly. "You won't be able to go back again after this."_

_He grinned. "Bureaucracy is shitty, and I really hate wearing suits to work every day."_

_She groaned._

_0_

_As Dom's hearing date quickly approached, Brian began giving Mia appropriate information for his contingency plans if things went the way he expected so she would be able to make plans of her own. She pointed out at every opportunity, that she thought he was out o his mind, but she didn't try to stop him. There was less than a week left when Brian finally got the Charger finished along with the modifications needed for the car Mia would be driving. He had called in quite a few favors under the radar to take care of things, using some of the cash he had squirreled away from Carter Verone while they were in Miami. He still couldn't bring himself anywhere close to feeling bad about the stolen money. And as far as he was concerned, he was using it for a worthy cause – whatever the FBI would say otherwise._

_Finally, halfway through the third day before the trial, Brian was satisfied with his work. Now the only thing left to do was pack their things. Well, there was one other thing…_

_He left the garage and headed into the Toretto house where Mia was making them dinner. They ate quietly, and Brian shooed her out of the kitchen while he cleaned up. When he finished, Brian leaned against the sink and crossed his arms over his chest._

"_What is it?" Mia demanded. Her patience had been short these past few months. He couldn't blame her. They were making plans for the worst case scenario, and it was draining for both of them._

"_The cars are finished", he said quietly._

_Her relief was visual; the tension in her shoulders lessened slightly. "That's good."_

"_You don't have to do this, Mia. Are you sure-?"_

"_Brian, if you ask me that one more time, I might deck you", she growled exasperatedly._

_He laughed under his breath. "Okay, okay." He tried to ignore the warning bells that went off in his mind as Letty's last words to him echoed under Mia's after he had tried to give her an out as well._

"_And?" she insisted._

_Brian straightened and grabbed two walkie-talkies from a drawer. He held one in her direction. "We only get one shot. If we mess it up… we're fucked. I think we should do a few practice runs."_

_Mia nodded. "Okay. Let's go."_

_He took her hand as they walked out the door, appreciating Mia's strength more than she would ever realize. The first few weeks Dom spent in county, Brian and Mia spent fighting. Mia did a lot of yelling. He let her, knowing how much repressed anger she had left simmering on the back burner. But Mia was intelligent, and she accepted the reality check he presented when it was finally time for him to push back._

_The air had been cleared, and they were both in it for the long haul now. There were very few other options._

_They wouldn't let Dom go to prison._

_0_

_They drove a while until they hit an empty stretch of highway and engaged in a detailed game of chicken, Brian giving instructions over the walkie-talkie. They practice high-speed weaving for several hours until they were satisfied that they were prepared for whatever could go wrong on the road._

_When they got back to the house, Brian still looked a little stunned, and Mia was quite smug. He grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and looked at her. "You're just- that was kickass, you know that right?" he said seriously._

_She smiled knowingly. "Toretto", she reminded liltingly._

_He grinned. "No shit."_

0

A familiar smell had him walking towards the back porch. He found Leon sprawled on the wicker couch smoking a joint and Dom occupying one of the chairs gripping a beer bottle lightly between his fingertips.

"Busted", Brian muttered teasingly. He cleared his face pointedly of the haunted look that had been teasing his features most of the evening.

Leon glanced up, only slightly startled. He smiled lazily. "He-ey", he drawled, voice raspy from smoke.

Brian smirked and sunk into a chair "At it a while, huh?"

"Yup." He held the joint out, loose between his fingers. "Want some?"

"Mia would hand me my own balls on a silver platter", Brian shook his head ruefully.

Dom snorted.

Leon just raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, brother, no one here is going to ask for a urine sample."

Brian rolled his eyes and accepted the blunt before taking a hit.

"Aren't you supposed to 'just say no', or some shit like that", Dom said mildly. "You're not very good with peer pressure, are you?"

Brian grinned. "Where's the fun in that? Besides, the times I _did_ say 'no' got me in a hell of a lot of trouble. It turns out that the LAPD and FBI don't particularly like it when their UC refuses to arrest the 'bad guys'."

"Go figure", Leon laughed under his breath.

"Where'd you go?" Dom questioned, changing the subject.

Brian raised an eyebrow, "When? Just now?" he wondered.

Dom nodded like Brian was a little slow.

"For a drive", Brian shrugged.

Dom raised an eyebrow, but decided to let it go in favor of going for another round of beer.


End file.
